Fenwick, Laura Catherine (2024) Development of the Observational Perfectionistic Climate Questionnaire-Sport (OPCQ-S). Doctoral thesis, York St John University.

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Abstract

Sports coaches have a fundamental impact on the development and experiences of athletes. This thesis examines the importance of the “climates” that coaches create and recent work on the concept of perfectionistic climate. The concept of perfectionistic climate is based on the notion that some coaches create social environments that reinforce the message that less than perfect performance is unacceptable. Work on this concept to date, in sport, includes the development of a self-report instrument and preliminary research on its correlates and differences to other climate concepts. Building on this work, the aim of this thesis is to develop the first observational tool for perfectionistic climate in coaches. The Observational Perfectionistic Climate Questionnaire-Sport (OPCQ-S) was developed and validated in five stages. Stage one included initial item development and refinement, external panel reviews, and pilot testing of the instrument. Stage two provided assessment of the intra-observer and inter-observer reliability of the initial version of the instrument within the research team. Stage three did the same with a revised version of the instrument and with doctoral trainees, novice sport scientists, and novice coaches. Stage four examined the degree to which observed perfectionistic climate was predicted by typical levels of empowering and disempowering behaviour. Findings showed, climates that are typically more disempowering are also more perfectionistic. Finally, in stage five, the predictive ability of the OPCQ-S was tested in a multilevel study of coaches’ behaviour and experiences of athletes. Along with further evidence of the reliability and validity of the OPCQ-S (expected factor structure), stage five found that observed perfectionistic climate was related to higher team-level perfectionistic cognitions. Based on the thesis, the OPCQ-S is recommended for use in future work studying the effects of coach behaviour and in interventions aimed at reducing perfectionistic aspects of sport and improving the experiences of athletes.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Status:	Published
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV0557 Sports
School/Department:	School of Science, Technology and Health
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/13071

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