Enhancement of children's self-esteem through social support training for youth sport coaches

The authors examined the impact of coaching behaviors on players' self-enhancement processes. Eight baseball coaches attended a preseason workshop designed to increase their supportiveness and instructional effectiveness. Behavioral guidelines were presented and modeled. A no-treatment control group had 10 coaches. Boys (N = 152) in both groups were interviewed pre- and postseason. Trained coaches differed from controls in player-perceived behaviors in accordance with the guidelines. They were evaluated more positively by their players, their players had more fun, and their teams exhibited a higher level of attraction among players, despite the fact that their teams did not differ from controls in won-lost records. Consistent with a self-esteem enhancement model, findings showed that boys with low self-esteem who played for the trained coaches exhibited significant increases in general self-esteem; low self-esteem youngsters in the control group did not.