Journal of Social Sciences 7 (3): 369-374, 2011

ISSN 1549-3652
2011 Science Publications

Achievement Motivation and Adjustment Patterns among

International and National Players of Different Team Sports
1
Nirmaljit Kaur Rathee and 2Jagbir Singh
1
Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Education,
Delaware State University, Dover, Delaware, USA
2
Physical Education Department, Department of Evening Studies,
Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

Abstract: Problem Statement: Achievement in sports demands specific behavior from an

athlete.. The performer in such events must have ability to assess the situation, select the
response, decide quickly and then implement it with determined efforts. Approach: This study
was focused to examine the levels of achievement motivation, emotional and social adjustment
among international and national players of basketball, hockey and handball games. Subjects (N =
240) were administered Achievement Motivation Test and Adjustment Inventory Analysis of
variance (22 factorial design) was applied to find out the significance of differences and
interaction of gender and performance. Descriptive values were worked to find out the direction
of differences and t-test was used to find out significance of inter sport differences. Results:
International players had higher levels of achievement motivation (M = 27.42, SD = 4.16) as
compared to the National level players (M = 24.84, SD = 3.98), F = 27.33 (p<0.01). No
significant gender differences were notices on this construct. On emotional adjustment, the
international players were emotionally better adjusted as compared to the national level players
(M = 12.25 and 13.46 respectively, F = 8.39, p<0.01: low scores indicated better level of
adjustment). International players were better adjusted socially (M=7.19) than national players
(M=7.80), F=6.30, p<0.01. Male players were better adjusted both emotionally and socially as
compared to female players. Male basketball and hockey players were emotionally and socially
better adjusted than handball players. Among female players, handball group was better than
basketball group on achievement motivation; basketball and handball groups were better than
hockey group on emotional adjustment; whereas on social adjustment, basketball group was better
than hockey group. Conclusions: The results provide evidence that high achievement motivation
is a vital factor that distinguishes high level performers. Emotional stability and social adjustment
were also the critical factors that differentiated between high and low level performers.
Implications of the results regarding inter sports differences are also discussed.

Key words: Achievement motivation, social adjustment, emotional adjustment, high level performers

INTRODUCTION motivated by internal or external rewards. How

motivated the players are, depends on the direction of
Sports teams constitute a unique kind of group. their efforts i.e. what they seek out, what approach they
Unlike some other collection of people to solve adopt and what attracts them in a certain situation.
problems, teams have clear-cut goals and well defined When these efforts are exerted in right intensity,
roles for both coaches and players to adhere to. These optimum output in performance is achieved (Weinberg
teams participate in institutionalized competitive and Gould, 2011). If two players have similar abilities,
activities that involve rigorous physical exertion or the the deciding factor to indicate their achievement at
use of relatively complex physical skills by participants higher levels may be the presence of a combination of
Corresponding Author: Dr. N.K. Rathee, Faculty of Education, Department of Physical Education, Delaware State University,
Dover, Delaware, USA, 19711
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desirable personality traits attuned with their desire to achievement motivation often causes disappointment of
achieve. This desire or the motivation has attracted the those players who are not predestined to participate at
attention of researchers for the last many decades. high level performance by the basics of their
Motivation is at the heart of many of sport's most personality. These players who do not possess high level
of achievement motivation do not reach the highest
interesting problems, both as a developmental outcome levels of their game despite good results at a young age.
of social environments such as competition and In a match situation they usually tend to evoke excessive
coaches' behaviors and as a developmental influence on stimulation which affects the quality of their sports
behavioral variables such as persistence, perceptions of performance adversely. In the long term this often leads
an ego-involving climate, learning, performance and to a lack of progress or even giving up practicing.
achievement goals (Ormrod, 2011). To work best in Perhaps, leadership developmental based orientations on
any motivational state, it is important to know what emotional and social competencies and group strategies
motivates an athlete towards a particular achievement may be adopted instead of traditional approaches in
training and coaching for such players (Cherniss et al.,
goal; the trait centered orientation, situation centered
2010). Research indicate that achievement motivation
orientation or interactional orientation? (Weinberg and can facilitate the development of a self-determined,
Gould, 2011). Thus, exploring the phenomena of more task-involving climate and the ensuing support of
motivation, its main elements may include: Motivation perceived competence in sport settings, may encourage
towards winning, motivation for individual positive affective states and reduce negative affective
excellence, motivation toward team goals and states among individual performers (Quested and Duda,
motivation towards achievement goals. 2009; Reinboth and Duda, 2006). Goal orientation
Achievement motivation cannot be described as perspective may represent a dispositional tendency
something that occurs during competition but mostly as towards judging ones competence or it may be fostered
a trait having permanent character, being formed within the situational context creating a perceived
during the preceding weeks, months and years. It is an motivational climate.
essential element of human personality and it directs a Differences among different sport groups on
persons activity and makes it more (or less) dynamic. motivation suggest the need to further examine factors
This property, the driving power of activity, should of motivation with a broader representation of
be understood as the joint function of the motive power individual and team sport athletes (Schilling and
(which is a permanent property of personality) and the Hayashi, 2001). Research has shown that sport
consequences of what a given individual expects of his participation is not only affected by emotional and
own actions (Franken, 1993). This action is a product of social adjustment patterns, but it also tends to
two tendencies: (1) to achieve a success and (2) to encourage positive social skills (Donaldson and Ronan,
avoid a failure. People with greater achievement 2006). This tends to increase behavioral adaptations,
motivation prefer tasks and situations where they can
optimize emotions and help athletes tackle competitive
do their best. Such people continue long lasting
insoluble tasks more effectively and reveal greater pressure (Pensgaard and Duda, 2003). Social factors do
persistence (Atkinson and Feather, 1966). Achievement influence the acquisition of high levels of sport
motivation leads people to set realistic but challenging proficiency and it is vitally important to acknowledge
goals. High-achievers have a great desire to succeed that environmental constraints on expertise can be
and are not put off by the fear of failure. High-achievers broad (e.g., cultural factors) and/or narrow (e.g., family
tend to enjoy challenges (opponents who are equal to or coaching factors) (Baker et al., 2003). Researchers
them or slightly superior to them); they need feedback have been trying to identifying the factors that
and respond well to constructive criticism; and they do distinguish exceptional players from the ordinary
not fear failure, which means they persist at sports. To performers and there have been numerous attempts to
become an elite athlete in any sport requires hours upon find out the traits and qualities that distinguish a
hours of training. Often this training is rigorous, painful, champion from other players, but our understanding is
or injurious. However, the athletes who have reached the still far from complete. Given this background it was
pinnacle of their sport have more than likely put in their deemed appropriate to conduct this research to explore
time to get to achieve that high level of success. To do
the levels of achievement motivation along with
this, these athletes must have something that motivates
them to continually push their bodies and come back emotional and social adjustment patterns among players
from whatever struggles or setbacks they may experience of different team sports performing at different levels.
along the way (Kamlesh, 2004). On the other hand, MATERIALS AND METHODS

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In order to investigate the levels of achievement Table 1: Results with regard to the two performance groups and the
two gender groups on achievement motivation
motivation, emotional and social adjustment among
Source of variance Ss df Ms F-Value
Indian players of three selected sports groups i.e. 2 Performance groups 533.02 1 533.02 27.33**
basketball, hockey and handball, the players (N = 240, 2 gender groups 4.74 1 4.74 0.24
age group 17-25) were selected as subjects. Half of Performance x gender 19.51 1 19.51 1.00
these subjects had participated in their respective sport Within 6162.00 236 26.11
**: p<0.01
at National level and others were those who had
participated at International level. Endeavors were also Table 2: Mean and SD values on achievement motivation
made to have equal number of subjects from the two Performance category Gender
genders. To find out the level of achievement ------------------------------------ -------------------------
Descriptive
motivation among the subjects, Achievement Values National International Male Female
Motivation Test was administered. The test retest Mean 24.84 27.42 26.01 26.26
reliability of this scale with N = 70 was reported to be SD 3.98 4.16 4.60 4.49
0.70 and its validity against another measure of
achievement was also 0.70. This scale consisted of 20 Table 3: Results with regard to the two performance groups and the
two gender groups on emotional adjustment
statements with two options as answers, the correct Source of variance Ss df Ms F-Value
answers were awarded 2 points and the incorrect ones 2 Performance groups 116.40 1 116.40 8.39**
were awarded zero. Sum total score reflected the 2 Gender groups 416.33 1 416.33 30.00**
achievement motivation level of the individual taking Performance x gender 8.78 1 8.78 0.63
the test. According to the instructions provided in the Within 4384.60 236 18.58
**: p<0.01
Test manual, high scores indicated higher level of
achievement motivation. To obtain data with regard to Table 4: Mean and SD values on emotional adjustment
the emotional and social adjustment levels among the Performance category Gender
subjects, the Adjustment Inventory (Sinha and Singh, --------------------------------- -------------------------
Descriptive
1980) was utilized. For this Inventory, the reliability Values National International Male Female
coefficient using split half method was reported to be Mean 13.46 12.25 11.71 13.99
0.95 and 0.97 respectively for emotional and social SD 4.03 3.74 3.60 3.92
adjustments. Correct answers were given 1 score and
incorrect response was given 0. Low scores indicated Referring to mean values of these two groups in Table
better adjustment levels among the subjects. Analysis 2, it has been found that the International players were
of variance (22 factorial design) was applied to find having higher levels of achievement motivation (mean
out the significance of differences and the interaction score 27.42) as compared to the National level players
(mean score 24.84).With regard to the levels of
of gender and performance. Descriptive values were
emotional adjustment among the subjects, the results of
worked out to find the direction of differences and t- 22 ANOVA and the descriptive values have been
test was used to find out the significance of inter sport presented in Tables 3 and 4 respectively. The results in
differences. For the purpose of this research the level Table 3 have demonstrated significant differences
of significance was set at 0.05. between the two performance level groups on
emotional adjustment (p<0.01, F = 8.39). The mean
RESULTS
values in Table 4 have revealed that international
To find out the differences among the two players had obtained lower mean scores of 12.25
performance level groups (i.e., International and whereas national players had 13.46 mean score and thus
National) and the two gender groups on Achievement were emotionally better adjusted as compared to the
national level players (as per the instructions in the
Motivation, 22 analysis of variance was applied and
Adjustment Inventory, low scores indicated better
descriptive values (mean and SD) were worked out. emotional stability). The differences among the two
These results have been presented in Tables 1 and 2 gender groups have also been found to be significant (F =
respectively. 30.00, p < 0.01) and male players have exhibited
From a perusal of the results in Table 1 it can be significantly higher levels of emotional stability as
observed that the differences between the two compared to their female counterparts.
performance levels i.e. national and international have The results with regard to social adjustment derived
been found to be significant at 0.01 level (F value from analysis of variance and the descriptive values for
being 27.33). the two performance level groups and the two gender
groups have been depicted in Tables 5 and 6.
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Table 5: Results with regard to the two performance groups and the Similarly, significant gender differences have also been
two gender groups on Social Adjustment
observed among the two gender groups (p<0.01, F =
Source of Variance Ss df Ms F-Value
12.14). The male players having obtained lower mean
2 Performance groups 30.01 1 30.01 6.30**
2 Gender groups 57.80 1 57.80 12.14** scores of 7.07 (as compared to 7.92 for female players)
Performance x gender 4.05 1 4.05 0.85 were found to be significantly better adjusted socially.
Within 1504.00 236 6.37 To find out the differences among male players of
**: p<0.01 selected sports groups i.e. basketball, hockey and
Table 6: Mean and SD values on social adjustment handball, mean scores, SD values and t-values were
Performance category Gender worked out and the results have been presented in
----------------------------------- ------------------------- Table 7.
Descriptive The results depicted in Table 7 have revealed that
Values National International Male Female so far as the levels of their achievement motivation
Mean 7.80 7.19 7.07 7.92
SD 2.35 2.07 2.22 2.17
were concerned, there were no significant differences
among the male players of three selected sports groups
Table 7: Mean, SD and t-values relating to male player of selected and all the male subjects were found to have almost
sports groups on achievement motivation, emotional and similar levels of achievement motivation. However, on
social adjustment emotional as well as social adjustment, male handball
t-ratio matrix players had significantly lowers levels of adjustment,
----------------- i.e., they were less adjusted emotionally and socially as
Variable Group Mean SD 2 3
Achievement 1 Basketball 26.55 4.71 0.92 0.32
compared to the other two performance groups.
Motivation 2 Hockey 25.60 4.53 0.55 The mean scores, SD values and t-values were
3 Handball 25.20 5.18 - worked out relating to female players of three selected
sports groups and the results have been presented in
Emotional 1 Basketball 11.07 2.71 0.48 2.43*
Adjustment 2 Hockey 10.72 3.77 2.54*
Table 8.
3 Handball 12.97 4.13 - From the results in Table 8 it can be observed that
on achievement motivation, there were significant
Social 1 Basketball 6.35 2.25 1.17 3.70 ** differences among basketball and handball groups. The
Adjustment 2 Hockey 6.92 2.20 2.62*
3 Handball 8.27 2.41 -
female handball players had significantly higher levels
*: p< 0.05; **: p<0.01 of achievement motivation as compared to basketball
players (p<0.01, t = 2.89). On both emotional
Table 8: Mean, SD and t-values relating to female player of selected adjustment as well as social adjustment the basketball
sports groups on achievement motivation, emotional and players were significantly better adjusted than the
social adjustment hockey players (p<0.01 in both cases, t = 4.08 and 3.89
t-ratio matrix respectively). Even handball players have been found to
------------------
Variable Group Mean SD 2 3 be significantly better adjusted emotionally than the
Achievement 1 Basketball 24.35 4.55 1.33 2.89** hockey players (p<0.01, t = 4.66).
Motivation 2 Hockey 25.60 3.85 1.74
3 Handball 27.12 3.99 - DISCUSSION
Emotional 1 Basketball 13.30 4.43 4.08** 0.02
Adjustment 2 Hockey 16.60 2.50 4.66** It has been found that the international players
3 Handball 13.32 3.66 - were having higher levels of achievement motivation
as compared to the national level players (p<0.01,
Social 1 Basketball 7.30 2.07 3.89** 1.66
Adjustment 2 Hockey 8.87 1.48 1.97 Table 1). These findings support Dureha et al. (2010)
3 Handball 8.07 2.09 - who had noticed significant differences on achievement
**: p<0.01 motivation levels of hockey national and international
players. It seems that high level of achievement
The ANOVAs results projected in Table 5 on Social motivation is one of the attributes of higher
adjustment have revealed that the two performance performance level groups that acted as a drive for them
groups differed from each other significantly (p<0.01, F to strive towards excellence. The analysis indicates that
= 6.30). When these results are interpreted by utilizing achievement motivation can be identified as one property
the mean scores for these groups in Table 6, it appears which determines the progress of young players with
that international players were significantly better serious aspirations to play at international level.
adjusted socially as compared to the national players. Regarding the two gender groups, they had almost
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similar levels of achievement motivation. It seems that So far as female players were concerned, handball
achievement motivation was not the mediating factor so players were having higher level of achievement
far as the gender differences were concerned. motivation as compared to the basketball players
On emotional adjustment, international players (p<0.01). On adjustment, basketball and handball
were found to be emotionally better adjusted as groups were found to be emotionally better adjusted
compared to the national level players. Better emotional than the hockey group (p<0.01 in both cases, Table 8).
stability helps an athlete to remain focused on the task On social adjustment, basketball group has been found
and enables him to put in his best efforts even when to be better adjusted socially than hockey group
faced with tough situations. Pangma et al. (2009) have (p<0.01, Table 8).
observed direct relationship between achievement
motivation and adversity quotient. Emotional CONCLUSION
adjustability helps an athlete in successfully dealing with
the pressures of stressful situations occurring in In the present study, the international players were
competitive sport. Regarding gender differences, male found to have significantly higher levels of
players have been found to be emotionally better achievement motivation as compared to the national
adjusted as compared to their female counterparts level players. It is perhaps this distinction that marks
(p<0.01, Tables 3). These gender differences might have between high achievers and those who are not able to
been the result of prevailing social structure in the make to the higher level in competitive sports. These
country and the social roles assigned to each gender results provided evidence that high achievement
with respect to their culture. In most part of the country, motivation is an important factor that distinguishes high
males play a dominant role in almost all spheres of life level performers (Butt and Cox, 1992). However, no
and females lead a somewhat sheltered life (Parveen significant gender differences were noticed on
and Iqbal, 2007). achievement motivation, which indicated that it was not
With regard to social adjustment, international gender specific.
players have been found to be significantly better With regard to emotional and social adjustment,
adjusted socially as compared to the national players international players were found to be significantly
(p<0.01, Table 5). This may be due to the social better than national level players. These findings point
exposure that the international players get, facilitating out that emotional stability and social adjustability were
their social interaction with others, or it may be that also the critical factors that differentiated between high
their social competence helped them in outpacing and low level performers. There has been research that
others also noticed better social adjustment among has linked physical activity and sports participation
higher level performance group. Regarding gender with improved mental and social well-being (Miller and
differences on social adjustment, male players were Hoffman, 2009). Jones (2003) was also of the view that
found to be socially better adjusted as compared to the emotional and social factors could influence
female players (p<0.01, Table 5). The reason may be achievement motivation along with both physical and
that in accordance with social and cultural set up in the cognitive functioning which facilitates the acquisition
country, male persons get more opportunities for social of high levels of sport proficiency. In fact, these two
interaction than the females and this might have factors serve an adaptational function that can mediate
contributed to their better social adjustability. Social and energize subsequent behavior by ensuring that
factors such as cultural influences and the relative age athletes channel extra physical and mental resources
effect are also considered as determinants of sport towards the specific task (Vallerand and Blanchard,
expertise (Baker et al., 2003). 2000). Another significant finding of the present study
Regarding inter-sport differences, no significant (in line with those of Lawther, 1972) was that the male
differences were observed among the three sports players were found to be better adjusted emotionally as
groups on achievement motivation. However, on well as socially as compared to female players. Though
emotional adjustment, male handball players had these findings draw support from Moreno-Murcia et al.
significantly lowers levels of adjustment (p<0.05 in (2011) who had reported gender differences on
both cases, Table 7), i.e., they were less adjusted motivational disposition, perceived climate and self
emotionally as compared to the other two groups. On reported discipline, however, these differences might
social adjustment, basketball group was better adjusted have occurred due to social and cultural environment to
than the handball group (p<0.01) and hockey group was which the subjects of the present study belonged.
also better adjusted socially as compared to handball Therefore, further investigations are required to
group (p<0.05, Table 7). substantiate such differences.
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