The relationship between perceived motivational climate and psychological well-being among adolescent handball players

Introduction: Sport participation can both enhance and undermine adolescents' well-being. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine associations of perceived task- and ego-involving motivational climates with anxiety, depressive, and stress symptoms and global self-esteem among youth athletes, and to test whether perceived motivational climate varied by athlete and coach gender. Methods: A total of 522 handball players (aged 14-17 years) participated in the study. Participants completed the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results: Overall, handball players perceived their teams as more task- than ego-involving, although male athletes reported lower task-involving climate than female athletes. Perceived task-involving climate was associated with lower anxiety, depressive, and stress symptoms and higher self-esteem, whereas ego-involving climate showed the opposite pattern. Together, motivational climate variables accounted for a statistically significant proportion of variance in anxiety, depressive, and stress symptoms, as well as self-esteem. In regression analyses, higher task-involving climate was associated with higher self-esteem, whereas higher ego-involving climate was associated with lower self-esteem and showed stronger associations with anxiety, depressive, and stress symptoms. Among female athletes, those coached by men perceived lower task-involving and higher ego-involving climates than those coached by women. Conclusion: Fostering a task-involving climate while minimising ego-involving cues may be relevant for supporting youth athletes' psychological well-being. The findings highlight the importance of coach education that addresses the psychological risks of an ego-involving motivational climate and promotes coaching practices that foster supportive, task-involving environments for youth handball players.