An evaluation of children's cooperative and competitive attitudes, their intrinsic motivation, and their different achievement goals in the sports education programme, Kiwisport

Type of content
Theses / Dissertations
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Psychology
Degree name
Master of Science
Publisher
University of Canterbury
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
English
Date
1993
Authors
Pocock, Marama Ann
Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effects of the New Zealand Sports Education Programme - KiwiSport- on the cooperative and competitive attitudes of children in sport, their intrinsic motivation, and also their different achievement orientations. Two strong and two weak KiwiSport schools were selected, and the students' attitudes compared using the Sports Attitude Questionnaire, which was designed for this study. The Task-and-Ego­ Orientation questionnaire (Duda & Nicholls, 1989) was also used to assess the student's achievement goals. One all boys catholic school, and one all girls catholic school were also compared to look for any sex differences. Four hundred and seventy students from six schools completed the questionnaire. This data was then used to determine any overall sex differences, and any age differences. The results indicated that KiwiSport is positively influencing a cooperative attitude. There was also partial support that it is decreasing a win-at-all-costs attitude, and increasing intrinsic motivation. However, KiwiSport does not appear to be affecting achievement goals. The first sex difference study found females to be more task-involved, and males to be more noncooperative. In the second sex difference study (all six schools) males again scored higher on noncooperation, and also on ego-orientation.• Females scored higher on noncompetition. The age difference study revealed a trend for a less competitive score, and a more cooperative score, the older the child. This study provided additional support for Duda & Nicholls (1989) theory and also their Task-and­ Ego-Orientation questionnaire. Both scales were found to have significant reliability correlations. The students from all six schools were found to score very high on cooperation, task-involvement, and intrinsic motivation. The reasons and implications for this are discussed.

Description
Citation
Keywords
KiwiSport (Program : N.Z.), Sports for children--New Zealand--Psychological aspects, Cooperativeness in children, Competition (Psychology) in children
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Rights
All Rights Reserved