CHILDRENS SELF-PERCEPTIONS AND SOURCES OF PHYSICAL COMPETENCE INFORMATION - A CLUSTER-ANALYSIS

This study explored relationships among children's age, individual dif ferences, and sources of physical competence information. Children (N = 183) completed measures of competitive trait anxiety (CTA), perceive d physical competence (PC), general self-esteem (SE), and sources of c ompetence information in the sport domain. A cluster analysis revealed four distinct profiles of children. In Cluster I, children were young er, scored relatively higher in CTA and lower in PC, and indicated str ongest preference for pregame anxiety as a source of information. Clus ter 2 was characterized by children with lower PC and SE scores who pl aced lower importance on parental evaluation and pre-game anxiety sour ces. In Cluster 3, children scored higher on PC and SE, moderately low er on CTA, and preferred self-referenced and parental evaluation crite ria. In Cluster 4, children were older, higher in CTA, lower in PC and SE, and indicated strongest preference for social comparison/evaluati on criteria. The criteria children use to evaluate their physical comp etence are strongly associated with age and psychological characterist ics.