ENHANCEMENT OF CHILDRENS SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH SOCIAL SUPPORT TRAINING FOR YOUTH SPORT COACHES

The authors examined the impact of coaching behaviors on players' self -enhancement processes. Eight baseball coaches attended a preseason wo rkshop designed to increase their supportiveness and instructional eff ectiveness. Behavioral guidelines were presented and modeled. A no-tre atment control group had 10 coaches. Boys (N = 152) in both groups wer e interviewed pre- and postseason. Trained coaches differed from contr ols in player-perceived behaviors in accordance with the guidelines. T hey were evaluated more positively by their players, their players had more fun, and their teams exhibited a higher level of attraction amon g players, despite the fact that their teams did not differ from contr ols in won-lost records. Consistent with a self-esteem enhancement mod el, findings showed that boys with low self-esteem who played for the trained coaches exhibited significant increases in general self-esteem ; low self-esteem youngsters in the control group did not.