Does group Cohesion predict team sport athletes' satisfaction?

Abstract

Many social and sport psychologists consider that group/ team cohesion as well as athletes' satisfaction has a major impact on team performance. The aim of this study was to examine if there were significant differences in group cohesion and athletes' satisfaction as a function of gender (male, female), type of team sports (soccer, basketball, volleyball, handball, water polo) and sport division (professional, semi-professional). A second aim was to analyze the relationship between group cohesion and athletes' satisfaction in team sports. Participants were 615 professional and semi-professional team-sport athletes from Greece, aged 15 to 36. They completed two questionnaires: (a) the Group Environment Questionnaire (Individual Attraction to Group - Task: ATG-T; Individual Attraction to Group - Social: ATG-S; Group Integration - Task: GI-T; Group Integration - Social: GI-S) and (b) the Athletes' Satisfaction Scale (Personal Outcome, Leadership). Separate three-wayMANOVAs revealed that type of team sports, but not gender or sport division, had a significant effect on group cohesion and athletes' satisfaction.Moreover, canonical correlation analysis revealed significant multivariate relationship between group cohesion and athletes' satisfaction. Overall, results indicated the important role of group cohesion, gender and team sports on Greek athletes' satisfaction. © 2018, Psychological Society of Northern Greece.