Relationships Between Perceived Perfectionistic Climate, Perfectionism, Resilience, Fear of Failure, and Psychological Wellbeing in Youth Athletes

In sport, perfectionism, along with its correlates and consequences, has predominantly been examined as an individual personality trait. However, the experiences of pressure to be perfect in sport may not always be internally generated but may also emanate from perceptions of the behaviors of key social agents, like a coach. This latter idea is known as perfectionistic climate . In the present study, using a cross-sectional design, we examined for the first time how youth athletes’ perceptions of a coach-created perfectionistic climate are associated with trait perfectionism (self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, and other-oriented perfectionism) and outcomes indicative of the overall quality of their sport experience. A sample of 678 youth athletes (Mage = 14.88 years, SDage = 1.81 years) competing at county level and above completed a one-off survey including established measures of perceived coach-created perfectionistic climate, trait perfectionism, resilience, fear of failure, and psychological wellbeing. Structural equation modeling indicated that perceptions of coach-created perfectionistic climate were positively associated with all three dimensions of trait perfectionism and fear of failure and negatively associated with resilience and psychological wellbeing. These findings suggest perceptions of a coach-created perfectionistic climate are linked to less adaptive outcomes among youth athletes and underscore the relevance of such perceptions in understanding variations in the quality of sport experiences. Further, they highlight the potential importance of addressing perceptions of coach-created perfectionistic climate in youth sport settings. • Perfectionistic climate positively relates to youth athletes’ perfectionism • Perfectionistic climate positively relates to youth athletes’ general fear of failure • Perfectionistic climate negatively relates to youth athletes’ resilience • Perfectionistic climate negatively relates to youth athletes’ psychological wellbeing • Perfectionistic climate may impede youth athletes’ development and experiences