抄録
In sports, motivational climate refers to the social and environmental factors that shape athletes’ motivation, especially through interactions with peers and coaches. The Peer Motivational Climate for Youth Sports Questionnaire (PMCYSQ) assesses this climate by distinguishing between task-involving and ego-involving climates. A task-involving climate emphasizing effort, improvement, and relatedness support has been linked to enhanced team performance. However, limited research has examined how individual player attributes, such as length of team affiliation and competition history, affect perceived motivational climate. This study investigated these associations among elite high school male rugby teams in Japan. A total of 418 players were surveyed, with 382 valid responses analyzed. Structural equation modeling revealed that longer team affiliation was significantly associated with lower perceptions of task-involving climate (β = -0.28, p < 0.001) and higher levels of intra-team conflict (β = 0.31, p < 0.001). In contrast, competition history was not significantly associated with either task-involving climate (β = -0.10, p = 0.053) or intra-team conflict (β = 0.09, p = 0.101). These results suggest that senior players with longer affiliation, nearing the end of their time on the team, often after tournament elimination may experience increased anxiety and frustration. Combined with strong emphasis on results and competition for positions, this may lead to dissatisfaction with teammates or coaches and result in self-centered behaviors. These dynamics may deteriorate task-involving climate and heighten intra-team conflict. The non-significant effect of competition history may reflect rugby’s diverse positional roles and frequent changes, which allow players to contribute regardless of experience. In Japanese high school sports, team placement rarely changes based on competition history. Future studies should develop interventions, especially for senior players to foster task-involving climate and reduce conflict, while also exploring applicability across sports and female athletes.
