Parenting and children's intrinsic motivation in age group swimming

The parenting correlates of children's intrinsic motivation in swimming wer e examined. Mothers and fathers of 135 9- to 12-year-old competitive swimme rs completed questionnaires about their child's swimming ability and about their current parenting practices. Children provided information about thei r swimming motivations. Results showed that children's ability in swimming (based on both mother and father ratings and on objective swimming performa nce) was positively associated with children's reports of intrinsic motivat ion. After controlling for child ability, mothers', but not fathers', paren ting practices predicted children's intrinsic motivation: maternal directiv eness was negatively associated with intrinsic motivation and maternal perf ormance goals showed a positive association. Curvilinear effects were signi ficant as well, with the highest level of intrinsic motivation found among children whose mothers showed intermediate values on performance goals and either high or low levels of directiveness.