Youth hockey athletes' perceptions of parental involvement: they want more.

Ede, Sarah ; Kamphoff, Cindra S. ; Mackey, Theresa 等

In the past decade, youth sport has grown immensely as the number of children ages 617 who participated in youth sport rose by more than 7 million (Arthur-Banning, Wells, Baker & Hegreness, 2009). This increased growth in youth sport has resulted in considerable changes in the activities of the American family where a significant amount of the family's time, money, and emotional energies are now focused on the child's sport participation (Coakley, 2006). This new lifestyle may create an opportunity for parents and children to develop closeness, but may also present challenges for the family to find a balance between sport and other important aspects of life (Cary, 2004). Furthermore, recent research suggested that as many as 70% of children will cease participation in organized sport before they reach the age of 13 (Engh, 2002). With millions of children participating in youth sport each year and a large percentage of children dropping out, it is crucial to gain an understanding of how parental involvement impacts the youth sport experience.

Holt, Tamminen, Black, Mandigo, and Fox (2009) described parental involvement as the extent to which a parent is interested in their child's sport participation, knowledgeable about their child's sport participation, and takes an active role in their child's sport participation. According to Hellstedt (1987), the amount of involvement that parents have in the athletic activities of their children falls on a continuum from underinvolved to overinvolved. The underinvolved parent is not emotionally, financially, or functionally involved in their child's sport participation. The underinvolved parent lacks attendance at games or events, provides minimal finances for equipment, does not volunteer to help, is not interested in their child's skill development, and does not assist their child in setting realistic goals.

The moderately involved parent is characterized by firm parental direction with flexibility to involve the child in decision-making processes. Moderately involved parents are supportive and interested in feedback from the coach about their child's skill development, set realistic goals for their child, and often volunteer to help. Researchers have suggested that parents who are moderately involved create an optimal and supportive atmosphere for their child's sport involvement because it communicates interest and support to the child (Cumming & Ewing, 2004; Stein, Raedeke, & Glenn, 1999; Wuerth, Lee, & Alfermann, 2004).

According to Hellstedt (1987), the overinvolved parent is excessively involved in the athletic success of their child. The overinvolved parent has a need that is satisfied through their child's sport participation in which they are not able to separate their own wishes, fantasies, and needs from their child's. Further, overinvolved parents provide excessive financial support, frequently attempt to coach their child, disagree with officials, and set unrealistic goals for the child. It is essential to consider parents' levels of involvement to determine how their involvement impacts the youth sport experience.

Fredricks and Eccles' Model of Parental Influences

Fredricks and Eccles' (2004) parental influences model is a theoretical framework that can be used to study parental involvement in youth sport. According to the model, there are two primary ways that parents influence their child's motivation. First, parents influence their child's motivation by being an interpreter of their experience. Parents do this by providing messages about the likelihood that their child will be successful in a particular domain and by providing messages about the value of their participation in that activity. Second, parents influence their child's motivation by providing emotional and financial support such as purchasing equipment and services, providing volunteer labor, and by helping their child develop their skills (Fredricks & Eccles,2004 The parent's level of influence in their son or daughter's sport participation is also impacted by their perceptions of their child's skills, interest, achievements, and prior performance. For example, if the parent believes that their child is interested and likely to succeed in their sport, they may be more highly involved than a parent who perceives their child's success in sport as unlikely.

Gendered Parental Involvement of Mothers and Fathers

According to Wuerth et al. (2004), the influence of fathers and mothers on their children's sport participation is quite different. This could be attributed to ideologies within American society that suggest that if a father participates in the coaching, teaching, and scouting of a child's sport participation, then he is considered a "good father" (Coakley, 2006). On the other hand, coaching, teaching, and scouting are not considered behaviors of a "good mother." A mother is considered a "good mother" if she serves as the nurturer of a child's sport participation (Coakley, 2006).

Mothers are typically involved in their son or daughter's sport participation as a supporting role that often includes engaging in tasks that facilitate an enjoyable sport experience for their sons and husbands (Chafetz & Kotarba, 1999). For example, Chafetz and Kotarba's 1999 study found that mothers acted as the nurturer as they washed uniforms, cooked meals, ran concession stands, and drove children to events. Because of the way mothers and fathers "do gender" (Chafetz and Kotarba, 1999), children likely have perceptions of how a "typical" mother and father should be involved in their sport participation. For example, if a child expects their father to coach their team, or participate in scouting and their father does not fulfill this role, the child may perceive their father as underinvolved in their sport participation. Likewise, if a mother coaches their team, or participates in scouting, the child may perceive their mother as overinvolved. Thus, ideologies may impact a child's perceptions of their parent's involvement in their sport participation. If a parent does not reproduce traditional gender stereotypes, a child may perceive that their parent is underinvolved or overinvolved in their sport participation which may impact their experience and enjoyment in youth sport.

Children's Perceptions of Parental Involvement

Researchers have suggested that children's perceptions of their parent's level of involvement are predictive of the child's sustained involvement in sport (Hedstrom & Gould, 2004; Kanters & Casper, 2008). In fact, as a parent's level of involvement becomes too high or overinvolved, children tend to report feeling trapped in their sport experience (Kanters & Casper, 2008) and lose interest. Similarly, if a parent's level of involvement is too low or underinvolved, children may feel sport involvement isn't important, may enjoy their sport less, and may lose interest in sport (Kanters & Casper, 2008). On the other hand, children that perceive parental involvement as encouraging and supportive, or moderately involved, are more likely to adopt a positive attitude towards sport (Kanters & Casper, 2008).

It is important to understand the child's perception of their parent's level of involvement because one child might find their parent's behavior acceptable, and even desirable, while another child may perceive the same parental behavior as stressful (Wuerth et al., 2004). In addition, if the parent's actual level of involvement is not the same as the child's desired level of involvement, then the child may perceive their parent's level of involvement as too high or too low, and may lead to attrition from sport. Thus, it is essential to consider children's perceptions of their parent's level of involvement to better understand the parent-child relationship.

Youth athletes' perceptions of parental involvement may differ when considering the context of a variety of youth sports. For instance, the unique nature of the sport of hockey may impact youth athletes' perceptions of parental involvement. One aspect of hockey that differs from other youth sports is that it is relatively expensive to participate in. In a study of elite youth ice hockey parents, Coakley (2006) found that parents routinely spent between $5000 and $20,000 per year to support their son's hockey participation. This large monetary investment may lead to parents being more involved in their son's hockey participation as they expect a "return" on their investment. In turn, youth athletes may feel that they must continue playing because of the significant amounts of money that their parents have invested in their sport participation.(Cumming & Ewing, 2004). In addition, many youth hockey programs are characterized by a traveling schedule that is competitive in nature. According to LaVoi and Stellino (2008), competitive travel requires athletes and their parents to invest much energy, time, and finances in their sport participation. Thus, parental involvement may increase if their child participates in a competitive travel level team as a more extensive time commitment is necessary.. The bantam level of ice hockey is of particular interest as it is a transitional level into high school level hockey, which may result in increased parental expectations, pressure, and therefore increased parental involvement. Lastly, Minnesota Hockey was selected for this study because it is recognized internationally as one of the leading youth hockey organizations for the development of hockey players (Minnesota Hockey, 2009). Therefore, as a model organization, Minnesota Hockey programs may be interested in parent education regarding involvement levels.

Thus, the purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of youth hockey athletes' perceptions and satisfaction of their parent's level of involvement. The following research questions were examined in this study:

1. How do youth hockey athletes perceive their parent's level of involvement?

2. Do youth hockey athletes' perceptions of their parent's level of involvement correlate with their level of enjoyment in hockey?

3. Are youth hockey athletes satisfied with their parent's actual level of involvement?

4. Do differences exist in youth hockey athletes' satisfaction of their mother's and father's level of involvement?

Method

Participants

Participants included 58 youth hockey athletes that were 13-15 years of age. A total of 57 (98.28%) of the participants were Caucasian, and 1 participant (1.72%) was African American. The participants spent an average of 7.5 hours per week, and an average of 8.9 months of the year training for hockey. Over half of the participants' (n = 33, 55.2%) parents had played on a hockey team before, while 25 (43.1%) of the parents had not played hockey. The same number of participants' parents had coached hockey before (n = 33, 55.2%). Almost all of the participants (n = 56, 96.5%) had both of their parents involved in their hockey participation, while 2 (3.5%) did not have a father involved in their hockey participation. None of the participants reported that they did not have a mother involved in their hockey participation. All participants met the following criteria: 1) participated in boy's bantam level ice hockey, 2) participated in a Minnesota Youth Hockey Association, 3) and received parental consent to participate.

Instrumentation

Two questionnaires were administered including the Parental Involvement in Sport Questionnaire (PISQ) and a questionnaire with three items that assessed enjoyment in hockey.

Parental involvement in sport questionnaire (PISQ). The Parental Involvement in Sport Questionnaire (PISQ) was used to assess youth athletes' perceptions of their parent's levels of involvement (Lee & Maclean, 1997). Several researchers have used the PISQ to assess youth athlete's perception of their parent's level of involvement. Lee and Maclean (1997) and Stroebel (2006) used the PISQ to assess swimmers' perceptions of their parent's level of involvement. In addition, Wuerth, Lee, and Alfermann (2004) used the PISQ to assess the perceptions of youth athletes who participated in track, swimming, tennis, handball, and hockey.

Lee and MacLean (1997) established the reliability and factor structure of the questionnaire. Internal reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha, and three subscales were specified including directive behavior (.82), praise and understanding (.60), and active involvement (.66). Wuerth, et al.'s 2004 study demonstrated cross-cultural validity of the PISQ. Wuerth et al. found that all the subscales, except the active involvement subscale showed internal consistency and retest reliability.

The terminology used in the PISQ was modified to be hockey specific for the purposes of this study. For example, the term "swimming" was changed to "hockey," and the term "gala" was changed to "game." In addition, 14 items were removed from Stroebel's version of the PISQ. The items were removed because they were not items within the three scales of directive behavior, praise and understanding, and active involvement. According to Lee and Maclean (1997), the fourth scale or factor was not clearly interpretable with three out of the four variables on this scale loading on other variables, so the items on the fourth scale were not included in this study. In addition, the items were removed to shorten the questionnaire to make it suitable for youth athletes. Since we modified the PISQ, the reliability of the scale using Cronbach's alpha was reestablished; the reliability of the three subscales were directive behavior (.72), praise and understanding (.74), and active involvement (.60).

The 19-item questionnaire measured perceptions of directive behavior, praise and understanding, and active involvement. Directive behavior refers to the extent to which parents controlled their child's behavior in hockey (Stroebel, 2006). For example, two questions on the directive behavior subscale include "Before a game, do your parents tell you how to play your game?" and "After a game, do your parents tell you that you did not try hard enough?" The praise and understanding subscale includes the praise and empathy that parents' displayed towards their children (Stroebel, 2006). For example, two questions on the praise and understanding subscale include "Do your parents show that they understand how you feel about hockey" and "After a game, do your parents praise you for trying hard?" Active involvement is defined as the extent to which parents were active in their child's hockey team (Stroebel, 2006). For example, two questions on the active involvement subscale include "Do your parents take an active role in running your team by doing things such as coaching, being on a committee, or helping with social events" and "Do your parents discuss your progress with your coach?" Participants identified the frequency with which certain behaviors were a) exhibited by, and b) desired of their parents on a five-point scale anchored by "always" and "never" (Stroebel, 2006).

Youth athletes' enjoyment in sport. Three items were added to assess youth athletes' enjoyment in sport. Enjoyment is sport is defined as "an individual's positive affective response to his or her competitive sport experience which reflects feelings and/or perceptions such as pleasure, liking, and experienced fun" (Scanlan & Lewthwaite, 1986, p. 32). Participants identified the extent to which they enjoyed a) practices, b) participating in games, and c) hockey in general. The participants indicated their answers to these three items on a five-point scale including none at all, not much, moderately, quite a lot, and a lot.

Procedures

Convenience sampling was used to select the participants of this study. All participants were recruited through a Minnesota Hockey database available on their website (http:// www.minnesotahockey.org/) which lists the districts, associations, and teams in Minnesota Hockey. The board presidents were contacted via email to request support for this study. Once the board presidents gave their support for the study, the coaches listed on the Minnesota Hockey website were contacted via email. If the coach agreed to participate in this study, a time was set up for the first author to present the parents with information regarding the study, and distribute and collect parental consent forms. After the parents gave consent for their son to participate in the study, the first author went to a practice or game to gain consent from the athletes and administer the questionnaires to the youth that agree to participate. In some cases, the survey was completed electronically via email in which the coaches forwarded the information regarding the study to the parent's emails who then contacted the first author to proceed. This method accounted for eleven of the surveys. The materials were sent back to the first author via the use of email or the US postal system. Prior to data collection, Institutional Review Board approval was attained.

Data Analysis

The information attained from the questionnaires was entered into SPSS, Version 12. Research question 1 ("How do youth hockey athletes perceive their parent's level of involvement?") was analyzed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations). Parent level of involvement is presented using the three scales of the PISQ (directive behavior, praise and understanding and active involvement) and includes mothers' and fathers' level of involvement collectively. Research question 2 ("Does youth hockey athletes' perceptions of their parent's level of involvement correlate with their level of enjoyment in hockey?") was analyzed using a series of Pearson correlation analyses. The results are presented by each scale of the PISQ and include mothers' and fathers' level of involvement collectively. Research question 3 ("Are youth hockey athletes satisfied with their parent's actual level of involvement in comparison to desired level of parental involvement?") was analyzed using a dependent t-test. The athletes' perceptions of their parent's involvement is represented by discrepancies between the rating of perceived and desired behavior (e.g., Discrepancy = Perceived behavior--Desired behavior). The range of possible discrepancies is -4 to +4. If the discrepancy is zero, then the child was satisfied with the particular behavior. Furthermore, the results are presented by each scale of the PISQ (directive behavior, praise and understanding and active involvement) and include mothers' and fathers' level of involvement collectively. Research question 4 ("Do differences exist amongst youth hockey athletes satisfaction of their mothers' and fathers' level of involvement?") was analyzed using an independent samples t-test. Results are presented by each scale of the PISQ, and examined the athletes' perceptions of their mother's level of involvement in comparison to their father's level of involvement.

Results

Research Question 1

Research question 1 ("How do youth hockey athletes perceive their parent's level of involvement?") was analyzed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations). The athletes perceived their parent's as using praise and understanding quite often (M = 2.26, SD = .86) compared to directive behavior (M= 3.22, SD = .64) and active involvement (M = 3.12, SD = .71) that were sometimes demonstrated. Thus, the athletes perceived their parent's using more praise and understanding than active involvement and directive behavior.

Research Question 2

Research question 2 ("Does youth hockey athletes' perceptions of their parent's level of involvement correlate with their level of enjoyment in hockey?") was determined using descriptive statistics and then a series of Pearson correlation analyses were conducted. The youth hockey athletes highly enjoyed hockey in general (M = 4.81, SD = .44), hockey practices (M = 4.37, SD = .70), and hockey games (M = 4.88, SD = .42). No relationship was found between the athletes' level of enjoyment in hockey in general and their perception of their parent's level of involvement. Two additional Pearson correlation analyses indicated no relationship between both the athletes' level of enjoyment in hockey practice and in hockey games and their perception of their parent's level of involvement.

Research Question 3

Research question 3 ("Are youth hockey athletes satisfied with their parent's actual level of involvement in comparison to desired level of parental involvement?") was analyzed using a dependent t-test. The results were calculated using the discrepancy scores (e.g., Discrepancy = Perceived level of involvement - Desired level of involvement). A significant difference was found between the athletes' perceptions of their parent's actual and desired levels in all three scales of the PISQ. More specifically, a significant difference between the athletes' perceptions of their parent's actual and desired levels of involvement were found for directive behavior, t (57) = 3.04, p = .004, praise and understanding, t (57) = 2.05, p = .045, and active involvement, t (57) = 2.22, p = .031. In other words, the athletes in this study were dissatisfied with their parent's level of directive behavior, praise and understanding, and active involvement. The discrepancy scores revealed that the athletes were considerably more dissatisfied with their parent's level of directive behavior (M = -6.96, SD = 17.45) due to the larger negative mean compared to active involvement (M = -1.81, SD = 6.22) and praise and understanding (M = -.93, SD = 3.46).

Research Question 4

Research question 4 ("Do differences exist amongst youth hockey athletes satisfaction of their mother's and father's level of involvement?") was analyzed using an independent samples t-test. The results were calculated using the discrepancy scores separately for their mothers and fathers (see Table 1). A significant difference was found between the athletes' perceptions of their mother's and father's level of praise and understanding, t(113) = 2.78,p = .006. The athletes were more satisfied with their father's level of praise and understanding (M = .08, SD = 1.98) compared to their mother's level of praise and understanding (M = -1.02, SD = 2.26). Results, however, indicated a non-significant difference between the athletes' perceptions of their mother's and father's levels of directive behavior, t(113) = .06, p = .95. In fact, the athletes were dissatisfied with both their mother's (M = -3.59, SD = 15.99) and father's level of directive behavior (M = -3.44, SD = 6.98). Similarly, a non-significant difference was found between the athletes' perceptions of their mother's and father's level of active involvement, t(113) = .26, p = .080. The athletes with dissatisfied with both their mother's (M = -.81, SD = 2.01) and their father's level of active involvement (M = -1.02, SD = 5.78).

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of youth hockey athletes' perceptions and satisfaction of their parent's level of involvement. In sum, the youth hockey athletes reported that they perceived theft parents as using more praise and understanding than active involvement or directive behavior. In addition, the youth hockey athletes were dissatisfied with their parent's level of involvement on all of the subscales of the PISQ (i.e., directive behavior, praise and understanding, active involvement) suggesting that they want more from their parents. The athletes' dissatisfaction with their parent's level of involvement, however, did not impact their enjoyment of hockey since a non-significant correlation was found between the athletes' level of enjoyment in hockey and their perception of their parent's level of involvement. Finally, when comparing mother's level of involvement to father's level of involvement, the youth hockey athletes were satisfied with their father's level of praise and understanding, but dissatisfied with their mother's level of praise and understanding. The youth athletes were dissatisfied with both their mother's and father's levels of directive behavior and active involvement.

The findings from our study are consistent with Wuerth, Lee & Alfermann's (2004) study of parental involvement in youth sport. Wuerth et al.'s found that the athletes who participated in track, swimming, tennis, handball, and hockey perceived their parents as using high levels of praise and understanding, moderate levels of active involvement, and moderate levels of directive behavior. Thus, our study was consistent with Wuerth et al.'s findings since we found that youth hockey athletes perceive their parents as using more praise and understanding then active involvement and directive behavior. However, even though youth hockey athletes in our study perceived their parents as using more praise and understanding, we found that youth hockey athletes were dissatisfied with their parent's level of praise and understanding, directive behavior, and active involvement. One possible explanation for the youth hockey athletes' dissatisfaction with their parent's level of involvement could be explained by the changing context of the American family. For example, American families today compared to several decades ago are characterized by dual incomes, parents working longer hours, increases in single parent households, and more increasingly regimented youth sport schedules (Coakley, 2006). Perhaps the children want their parent's more involved in their sport participation than having their parents work. Further, generational changes may influence youth sport athletes today, as they may expect more involvement from their parents, and they may feel more of a sense of entitlement regarding their parent's involvement levels, than has been the case in the past. Future research could examine this trend.

Furthermore, our findings related to gender are similar to previous research (Stroebel, 2006). Stroebel's (2006) study revealed that swimmers reported dissatisfaction with their mother's level of directive behavior, but were satisfied with their father's directive behavior. The swimmers in Stroebel's study were also satisfied with their mother's praise and understanding, whereas they reported excessive levels of praise and understanding from their fathers. Comparatively, findings from our study revealed that the participants were more satisfied with their father's level of praise and understanding than their mother's level of praise and understanding. When parents conform to gender stereotypes in American society and "do gender" (Chafetz & Kotarba, 1999), the mother is often the nurturer who provides praise and support for their child as well supportive acts such as laundering their uniform and making their lunch (Coakley, 2006). The stereotypical father in American society, however, often engages in a coaching or spectator role such as taking stats or running the scoreboard (Chafetz & Kotarba, 1999). Thus, based on gender stereotypes, athletes may have a desire for their mother to fulfill a nurturing role that is more reflective of gender stereotypes, rather than participating in coaching and instruction which they may not expect her to participate in. Therefore, it is likely that based on gender stereotypes, youth athletes may expect their fathers to be more involved in their hockey participation in a coaching and instructing role, and they expect their mothers to fulfill the nurturing role. It is possible that the parents in this study were not involved in their child's hockey participation in a gender stereotypical way, which may explain why the athletes were dissatisfied with their parent's level of involvement.

As stated, an important finding that emerged from this study was that youth hockey athletes were dissatisfied with their parent's level of praise and understanding, directive behavior, and active involvement. This finding is not consistent with Lee and MacLean's (1997) study regarding sources of parental pressure among age group swimmers. Lee and Maclean found that the participants perceived their parents as using an excessive levels of directive behavior and satisfactory levels of active involvement. Lee and Maclean's study is somewhat consistent with Stroebel's (2006) study that revealed participants were satisfied with their mother's level of active involvement, but reported excessive active involvement of their fathers (Stroebel, 2006). Given both Lee and Maclean as well as Stroebel's findings of excessive levels of involvement, it is surprising that we found athletes were dissatisfied with their parent's level of involvement. It is quite possible that youth hockey athletes may expect more from their parents than athletes in other sports and/or they may see less of their parents than athletes in other sports due to time constraints and busy schedules. Hence, more research should investigate this trend.

The question is what degree of involvement do youth athletes desire, and specifically how much more involvement do they want? Researchers have indicated that the parent who is moderately involved in their child's sport participation is highly desired rather than a parent who is underinvolved or overinvolved (Cumming & Ewing, 2004; Hellstedt, 1987; Stein et al., 1999; Wuerth et al., 2004)Stein et al., 1999; Wuerth et al., 2004). In the current study, we think that the youth hockey athletes want their parents to be more moderately involved rather than overinvolved. Based on this research (Cumming & Ewing, 2004; Hellstedt, 1987; Stein et al., 1999; Wuerth et al., 2004), athletes want their parents to engage in supportive roles, to set realistic goals, to volunteer with team activities, to involve them in decision making processes--all which are behaviors of a moderately involved parent. Of course, we recognize that this was not the focus of our study; hence further research should investigate what type of involvement that youth athletes want more of their parents.

In addition, the youth hockey athletes' enjoyment in hockey was not impacted by their parent's level of involvement as non-significant correlations were found. The youth hockey athletes reported high levels of enjoyment which likely impacted this finding. Meaning, the youth hockey athletes simply enjoyed playing the sport of hockey regardless of their parent's level of involvement. However, their parent's level if involvement could influence their enjoyment either positively or negatively at some point. Given that Scanlon and Lewthwaite (1986) have suggested that enjoyment is a critical aspect of the competitive youth sport experience, further research should examine this topic as well.

Limitations and Further Research

This study only described youth hockey athletes' perceptions of their parent's involvement and did not explain what factors contribute to youth hockey athletes' perceptions of their parent's involvement. Moreover, this study did not assess their parent's perceptions of their own involvement. Further research could assess parent's and children's perceptions of parental involvement and compare the parent's and children's perceptions for similarities. Second, participants in this study consisted of only boy youth hockey athletes and a small number of participants. Further research should examine girls' perceptions of their parent's level of involvement, include more participants, and specifically assess how their parent's level of involvement impacts their youth sport experience. The opportunities for girls to participate in ice hockey are a recent occurrence and more girls are participating in ice hockey (LaVoi & Stellino, 2008). Thus, with an increasing number of girls participating in ice hockey, it is important to assess parent's level of involvement in their daughter's hockey participation. Parental involvement in girl's youth hockey may present different findings when compared to the findings in this study. In addition, because hockey is often referred to as a masculine sport (Coakley, 2006), girls' perceptions of their parent's level of involvement is particularly important to investigate.

Another limitation of this study was the difficulty obtaining parental consent for the youth hockey athletes to participate in this study. The sample of the study may not have included the parents who are underinvolved or overinvolved in their child's hockey participation. For example, the underinvolved parents may not have signed the consent form because of a general lack of interest in their involvement level and their son's hockey participation. On the other hand, the overinvolved parent may not want their parental involvement accessed or may not want their child to participate because they are resistant to their child's perceptions of their level of involvement.

The sample of this study was taken from Minnesota youth hockey associations only, which may decrease the generalizability of the results to all youth hockey associations. Further research could expand the study to a larger region, thus attaining a greater sample of participants. The same could aim to be more diversified as 98.28% of the participants in this study were Caucasian. Lastly, a limitation of this study was that the quantitative nature of the study limited the findings and a complete understanding of the degree of involvement that youth hockey athlete's desire; hence, qualitative research is needed to further examine the athletes' perceptions. Further research could also investigate pressure and specifically how parental pressure may impact youth hockey athletes' enjoyment in hockey as well as their perceptions of their parent's level of directive behavior, active involvement, praise and understanding.

Practical Implications for Youth Sport Supporters

The information gained from this study has practical implications to enhance the experience of youth sport participants. The findings from this study as well as other studies using the PISQ suggested that youth athletes are not completely satisfied with their parent's level of involvement on all three subscales (directive behavior, active involvement, and praise and understanding). Thus, the findings from this study could be used to encourage parents to evaluate their level of involvement, discuss their level of involvement with their child, and possibly adopt new methods to foster a positive sport experience for their child. Specific recommendations for parents regarding each of the subscales (directive behavior, active involvement, and praise and understanding) are provided below.

First, parents and youth sport supporters should recognize the desire that many youth sport participants have for their parents to be actively involved in their sport participation. Possible suggestions that parents can incorporate to address active involvement could include volunteering to help at games or tournaments, taking an active role in team boaster clubs or committees, helping with social events, providing transportation for their child, discussing the child's progress with their coach, and encouraging their child to talk to them about problems or worries regarding hockey. Second, parents should be aware that some youth hockey athletes may want their parents to provide more directive behavior, while not moving too far into being an "overinvolved" parent. Possible suggestions for parents to increase their levels of directive behavior include discussing strategies with their child on how to improve their technique, encouraging their child to practice harder if necessary, helping their child understand and learn from mistakes, cheering for their child, and assessing how their child's hockey performance is progressing. Third, parents should be aware that some youth hockey athletes may want them to provide more praise and understanding as indicated in the findings from our study. Possible suggestions to address parent's level of praise and understanding include praising their child after games, showing their child they understand how their child feels about hockey, praising their child for trying hard, and praising their child for accomplishments regardless of the outcome of the game.

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Sarah Ede, Cindra S. Kamphoff, Theresa Mackey, Suzannah Mork Armentrout Minnesota State University, Mankato

Address correspondence to: Cindra S. Kamphoff, Ph.D., AASP-CC. 1400 Highland Center, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Mankato, MN 56001. Office phone: (507) 389-6112, Fax number: (507) 389-5618 Table 1. Differences Amongst Youth Hockey Athletes Levels of Satisfaction with Their Mother's Level of Involvement and Their Father's Level of Involvement (Independent Samples t-test) Praise/ Directive Understanding Behavior Mean SD Mean SD Mother's Level of Involvement Perceived Involvement 8.93 3.58 36.36 6.67 Desired Involvement 9.95 3.97 39.95 15.81 Discrepancy Score -1.02 * 2.26 -3.59 15.99 Father's Level of Involvement Perceived Involvement 9.30 3.95 28.46 8.88 Desired Involvement 9.21 4.19 31.89 8.96 Discrepancy Score .08 * 1.98 -3.44 6.98 Active Involvement Mean SD Mother's Level of Involvement Perceived Involvement 16.24 3.36 Desired Involvement 17.05 3.78 Discrepancy Score -0.81 2.01 Father's Level of Involvement Perceived Involvement 15.25 4.48 Desired Involvement 16.26 7.33 Discrepancy Score -1.02 5.78 Note. * Significantly different at the p =.01 level.