Perceived Competitiveness, Skill, and Scores on the Sports Attitudes Inventory

It was hypothesized that motivation (power, achievement, or fear of failure) scores would be important variables in predicting coaches' and students' ratings of competitiveness and skill. Female high school students in basketball, tennis, and track and field used a self-peer measurement technique to rate competitiveness and skill. Coaches' ratings of student competitiveness and skill were also obtained. For both criterion variables, coaches' skill rating was found to be the best predictor variable. Self-peer rating was an important predictor of self-peer competitiveness rating but was not a strong predictor of coaches' rating of competitiveness. Of the motive scales, power contributed most significantly to the prediction of both criterion variables. Fear of failure was a good predictor variable for coaches' ratings of competitiveness but was not a good predictor of self-peer rating. The achievement motive was not a good predictor of either criterion. These results are consistent with a previous study of male university athletes. Discrepancies were found in both studies between athletes' self perceptions and coaches' perceptions of competitiveness and skill. (FG)