Impact of Need Satisfaction on Collegiate Athletes' Motivation, Performance, Commitment, and Well-Being

My senior thesis in psychology, “Impact of Need Satisfaction on Collegiate Athletes’ Motivation, Performance, Commitment, and Well-being,” investigates the role that athletes’ relationships with their teammates and... [ view full abstract ]

My senior thesis in psychology, “Impact of Need Satisfaction on Collegiate Athletes’ Motivation, Performance, Commitment, and Well-being,” investigates the role that athletes’ relationships with their teammates and their coach have in determining their athletic motivation and performance.  In line with Self Determination Theory, I suggest that the quality of teammate-teammate and teammate-coach relationships directly impact the team motivational climate, and thus individual’s motivation. To assess this, I invited junior and senior varsity athletes to participate in an online survey assessing their team relationships, perceived team climate, athletic motivation, and perception of their performance.  This project contributes to the research assessing the role of personal relationships and psychological need satisfaction on one’s motivation, and performance for athletics.