Here's the deal. Parents play a major role in their children's lives, in particular those playing sports. You know, since the 1980s, research in youth sports psychology has paid special attention to the influence of parents on children's results and experiences in competitive sports. Studies confirm what Header does in each article that parents play a central element in the psychological development of their children.
The quality of the sports environment for young athletes has a big impact on their sporting experiences. Alongside coaches, parents hold an essential place in the social support system: they can influence their children's psychological personality, sports performance, and long-term engagement. Parents represent the most significant influence in children and teenagers playing sports (up to around the age of 13) and continue to build their sporting career by being their managers, as Neymar and Messi's parents do, a good example, isn’t it?
The forms of influence that parents can exert are diverse.
First let’s be clear. Good parents are the ones who facilitate their children's participation in sports by taking them to training or competitions and providing the necessary financial resources. There is no such thing as ‘I’m busy’ when you’re a father.
At the same time, parents communicate their values and expectations to their children. They also play a crucial role in shaping the child's perceptions of his own abilities, goals, and in explaining his performance. And this is possible. Through their feedback, the motivational climate they create, and the nature of their emotional support. All of this can positively influence mental health in athletes, whether they are children, teens or even adults.
The positive influence of parental support.
By encouraging their children, promoting the concept of hard work, and valuing progress in learning, parents help improve the child's awareness of their own abilities. They develop high self-esteem as well as increase motivation and enjoyment even for competitive sports. Not only that, but research has shown that children's perception of parental support is associated with decreased stress and greater continuity in sports which is called 'commitment' especially in competitive sports for teens.
Parental pressure or negative parenting practices.
Many studies in youth sports psychology indicate that parents’ inappropriate attitudes increase children's anxiety, reduce self-perception and the feeling of competence, or can even lead to the abandonment of sports activities. But how?
Negative parenting practices include excessively high or unrealistic performance expectations, pressure to reach a certain level based on the parents' own beliefs about their child's success in sports, excessive emphasis on winning, and negative reactions to defeat, such as making bad comments or being harshly critical.
The line between pressure and support is often thin.
The distinction between parental behaviors of pressure (considered negative) and supportive attitudes is not necessarily clear. Parental influence depends on the child's perception and interpretation.
Studies have found that high levels of perceived pressure by teens playing sports were considered positive by them in terms of improving their sports performance. A survey of 201 families revealed that behaviors deemed positive or negative were, in certain situations, associated with both pressure and support. Finally, depending on the age of the athletes, parents' presence at competitions can be interpreted as support or felt as embarrassing. These contradictory results highlight the importance of understanding how parents and children communicate.
Well, according to Header's point of view, we think it is better for parents to have such a blacklist of words that they should avoid in order to boost their children's performance.
The influence of the quality of parent-child relationships.
Recent research on mental health in athletes has focused on understanding how parental behaviors influence children's psychosocial outcomes in sports. Based on theories from social psychology and interpersonal communication, these studies indicate that the quality of the relationship between parents and children promotes not only performance improvement and increased self-esteem but also the athlete's flourishing.
In this sense, by studying parent-child interactions in various sports, researchers have highlighted the importance of support that athletes receive from their parents. You know, sometimes parents are the real causes behind making their children bad soccer players.
The study showed that youth soccer players whose parents listened attentively understood their needs, valued them, and cared for their well-being reported feeling less anxious before or during competition, higher self-esteem, and a higher level of thriving than athletes whose parents showed low levels of responsive support.
Conclusion.
The results of the latest research in youth sports psychology align with the recent concept of athletes thriving in competitive sports. This concept studies the conditions of the sports environment that lead to positive long-term results and optimal well-being.
That's all we have for today, feel free to use the comments section if you have any questions or you can simply share your story with us.
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