Perceived motivational climate created by coach and physical self-efficacy as predictors of the young Serbian female athletes satisfaction

Starting from the Achievement Goal Theory, but also Bandura's theory of self-efficacy and Triadic Reciprocal Causation, this paper considered perceived motivational climate created by the coach and percieved physical self-efficacy as key predictors of young female athletes` satisfaction. The sample consisted from 117 young female athletes aged between 11 to 17 (M=13.62) from Serbia; who train volleyball (N=51), basketball (N=48) and handball (N=18) in different clubs. During 2017, respondents filled out questionnaires Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire - ASQ (Riemer, & Chelladurai, 1998) - subscale of satisfaction with personal performance and subscale of satisfaction with the level of athlete's skills utilization; Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 - PMCSQ-2 (Newton, Duda & Yin, 2000) - shortened version with three subscales: Task-oriented motivational climate, Unequal recognition and Punishment for mistakes; The Physical Self-Efficacy Scale (Ryckman et al., 1982) - subscale Perceived Physical Ability. Results of regression analysis show that Perceived motivational climate created by coach and Perceived Physical Ability represent significant predictors (F(4,107)= 31.78, p=.00) that explain 55% variance of female athletes satisfaction. Task-oriented motivational climate and Perceived physical ability stood out as significant individual predictors. Coach as well as physical self-perception of young female athletes are related with athlete's satisfaction. Satisfied athletes have greater results in sports, as well as the intention to continue doing sports. Significance of these results lies in the better understanding female athlete's satisfaction in Serbia, and contributes to creating prevention programs in order to help girls stay in sports.