Comparing masters athletes with varying degrees of coaching for psychological need satisfaction and frustration

Abstract

Exploratory research suggests Masters athletes (MAs; adult athletes >35 years) derive benefits from the coached context. This study sought to compare groups of MAs with varying degrees of coaching for reports of psychological need satisfaction and frustration. A total of 561 individual sport MAs completed surveys assessing psychological need satisfaction and frustration. MAs self-categorized into one of three groups: (1) coached MAs (n = 284), (2) moderately coached MAs (n = 92), and (3) non-coached MAs (n = 185). Analyses comprised ANOVAs followed by Games-Howell post hoc tests. Coached and moderately coached MAs reported greater relatedness satisfaction than non-coached MAs. Coached MAs also reported greater relatedness satisfaction than moderately coached MAs. Coached and moderately coached MAs reported greater autonomy frustration than non-coached MAs, whereas coached MAs reported lower relatedness frustration than moderately coached and non-coached MAs. The findings suggest the coached context assists adult athletes in fulfilling their need for belongingness. Similarly, results imply that receiving frequent exposure to coaching helps MAs experience lower feelings of relatedness frustration. Lastly, findings suggest that the structure provided by coaches can have the inevitable consequence of slightly frustrating MAs’ autonomy. Future research should explore how coach-mediated processes explain MAs’ psychological need satisfaction and frustration.