The Role of Passion and Achievement Goals in Optimal Functioning in Sports

This study aimed to test the role of passion in the cognitive goals pursued in sport and the level of Optimal Functioning in Society (OFIS) derived from such sport engagement. A total of 184 competitive water polo and synchronized swimming athletes completed a questionnaire assessing their passion for their sport, achievement goals, and various scales assessing their level of OFIS (e.g., subjective well-being, relationship with their coach, sport performance, and intentions to continue in sport). It was hypothesized that harmonious passion (HP) would be positively associated with mastery goals while obsessive passion (OP) would be positively associated with mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. In turn, mastery goals were expected to positively lead to the four components of OFIS, whereas performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals should display less adaptive relationships with OFIS. The results of a path analysis generally supported the proposed model. As hypothesized, these findings suggest that HP leads to a more adaptive cognitive engagement in sport (than OP) that, in turn, fosters higher levels of optimal functioning.