Narcissism and Coach Interpersonal Style: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2015
Publication Title
Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
Keywords
autonomy-supportive, Controlling, dominance, empathy, sport
Abstract
Athletes’ sport experiences are often influenced by the interpersonal styles of communication used by their coaches. Research on personality antecedents of such styles is scarce. We examined the link between a well‐researched personality trait, namely narcissism, and two types of coaching interpersonal style, namely autonomy‐supportive and controlling styles. We also tested the mediating roles of dominance and empathic concern in explaining the relations between narcissism and the two coaching interpersonal styles. United Kingdom‐based coaches (N = 211) from various sports completed a multi‐section questionnaire assessing the study variables. Regression analyses revealed a positive direct relation between narcissism and controlling coach behaviors. Furthermore, empathy (but not dominance) mediated the positive and negative indirect effects of narcissism on controlling and autonomy‐supported interpersonal styles, respectively. We discuss these findings in terms of their implications for coaching and the quality of athletes’ sport experiences.
Recommended Citation
Matosic, D., Ntoumanis, N., Boardley, I., Sedikides, C., Stewart, B.D., Chatzisarantis, N. (2017). Narcissism and Coach Interpersonal Style: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 27, 254-261. doi: 10.1111/sms.12635
Comments
© 2015 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.