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Leadership and Satisfaction in Young Athletes: Testing the Hypothesis of Congruence of the Multidimensional Model of Leadership

Abstract

The Multidimensional Model of Leadership has been the most widely used theoretical approach to studies of leadership in sport. According to its main proposition, known as the congruence hypothesis, when athletes perceive their coach shows the behavior they prefer on a given context, performance and satisfaction are maximized. However, studies that have tested the hypothesis of congruence did not confirm its validity. Furthermore, most of the research samples used adult athletes, a fact that complicates extrapolating the results to other subpopulations. In this sense, the present study aimed to test the hypothesis of congruence in a school athletes group. The sample consisted of 466 athletes, with an average age of 16.16 (SD = 0.79), who completed: a demographic questionnaire; the Leadership Scale in Sport (preference and perception versions); and the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire (leadership version). Analysis of the internal consistency and factor analysis confirmed the psychometric validity of instruments. The results of the regression analysis partially support the hypothesis that athletes’ satisfaction is dependent on the congruence between athletes’ preferred and perceived coaches behavior.

Leadership; Satisfaction; Sport Psychology; Psychological Assessment

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