RELATIONSHIP OF SOCIAL SUPPORT, MENTAL STRENGTH AND GOAL ORIENTATION AMONG FOOTBALL PLAYERS

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1 RELATIONSHIP OF SOCIAL SUPPORT, MENTAL STRENGTH AND GOAL ORIENTATION AMONG FOOTBALL PLAYERS Che Nadia Che Samsudin Centre for Fundamental & Liberal Education University Malaysia Terengganu ABSTRACT The successful career of an athlete is dependent on social support, mental strength and goal orientation. However, the interaction between these three components within a local student athlete has yet to be determined. The present study had analyzed the relationship of social support, mental strength and goal orientation on the performance of UiTM soccer players. A total of 183 respondents completed series of questionnaires, which consisted of social support dimensions that involved parents, coaching staff, friends, and government. Mental strength dimensions consisted of self confident, motivational control and focus control. Goal orientation dimensions consisted of task and ego orientation. A structural equation modeling (SEM) via AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) software package Version 20.0 was used to analyzed the data. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were performed to validate the scales. The finding of the present study indicated that social support from parents, coach, friends and the government had directly contributed towards overall social support, which had a significant relationship to self-confidence, task orientation and ego orientation. Self-confidence was found to have significant relationships with motivation control and focus control. Further evidence shows that the relationships between 1) overall social support and focus control, 2) focus control and task orientation, 3) focus control and ego orientation were not supported. Field of Research: Mental strength, social support, goal orientation, football players Introduction Football as it is known in many parts of the world is a most popular organized team sport. It is played in every nation without exception. Today, football remains the fastest growing team sport and in consequence of its popularity, has attracted many young players all over the world. Football is not only for competition but also important in developing social network, setting a goal and mental strength among team members (Asmuni, Mohamad Sofian, & Bahaman, 2009). The impact of sports, in particular football, on society and the world economy is really immense. The game has the potential to create a vast economic bearing. Football is also a game that involves a lot of thought, strategy and team power and therefore requires a great deal of development in skills, aptitude and proficiency (Asmuni, Mohamad Sofian, & Bahaman 2009). It is played and avidly watched throughout every part of the world. Success in sports especially football begins by engaging oneself voluntarily in that sports followed by a keen interest. Socialization into sports is a very beneficial process in understanding how the habit of physical activity is formed, maintained or ceased (Sarason, Sarason, Shearin & Pierce 1987). 64

2 2. Social Support To improving sports success the support of family, friends and teammates may just be an athletes secret weapon especially during training and competition. Obviously, social support will motivate athletes to go for training and competition. Bernal, Maldonado, & Scharron (2003). Besides that, continuous support of friends and family may be one of the most important factors influencing an athlete s sports performance (White, Kavussamu, Tank, &Wingate, 2004). Encouragement from friends, family, a coach or a strong team perhaps it s important while belief in one s sports ability is a large part of the drive that most elite athletes feel, but having a support system. In some cases, it appears to be the most important factor to an athlete s success. Differences in social support needs to examined according to the athletes; gender, age, playing level, years of participation, and future playing intention. In accordance with Rees, Ingledew & Hardy (1999) proposed that the encouragement and support of friends and family is a key factor in building self esteem in an athlete, and it that can lead to success in a high pressure sporting event. 3. Mental Strength There are 6 forms of social support emotional challenge, emotional support, listening support, reality confirmation, task appreciation, and task challenge (Moreira, Silva, Moleiro, Aguiar, Andrez, Bernardes & Afonso, 2003). Rees, Ingledew and Hardy (1999) proposed 6 types of social support: (a) technical challenge (b) listening, (c) technical appreciation (d) shared social reality, (e) emotional challenge and (f) emotional. While Sarason, Basham, and Sarason (1983) proposed 2 additional support types: (g) tangible assistance e.g., providing financial assistance), and (h) personal assistance (e.g., driving the athlete somewhere).the participation of athletes in sports too can be seen as a motive in winning and gaining popularity. The participation of one in sports is driven by a combination of innate satisfaction and is associated with extrinsic rewards that are gained through sports. Bernal, Maldonado, & Scharron (2003) also stated that factors such as social support or interpersonal relationship with the coaches, family, peers are the motivation of the involvement of an athlete in sports. Hence, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation given to the athlete is imperative in order of providing them the support and impetus to stay engaged in sports. Self-confidence also has been identified as one of the vital personal factors responsible for success in sports (Connaughton, Hanton, Jones, & Wadey, 2008). A research on mental strength among athletes shows there is a consistent athletes self-confidence and mental strength that can influence their achievement in sports (Behncke, 2004). Aside from motivational factor and self-confidence, researches also show that 50% of successes in sports are influenced by psychological factor related to mental strength. This can be proven if there are two teams competing with equal chance, 90% of winning depends on the mental skills (Creasy, 2005). Mental strength is a combination of psychological skills package which has to be mastered by the athletes ever since the starting of the involvement, practice sessions, competitions up until the end of competitions and it is a booster in determining the success or failure of the athletes (Declan, Sheldon, Graham & Ross, 2008). Thus, a further research on the mental strength of Malaysian athlete should be expanded to find the level of mental strength of the football players especially to allow the coaches to evaluate and improve the training program. 65

3 4. Goal Orientation Goal setting is widely being use in the mental skill preparation. The first skills which to educate the athlete on how short and long term goals should be implemented. The coach will be applied the usage of the goal setting process, when the relevant technical information and needs analysis for each piece of apparatus. The athlete will be setting goals to perfect each individual piece of equipment (process goal), win minor practice competitions (outcome goal) and to achieve a point boundary for competitions (performance goals) (Dunn & Causgrove, 1999). This goal relates to how people judge their level of competence and subjectively define successful goal accomplishment. The examination of goal perspectives also provides insight into the variations in intrinsic motivation observed in achievement setting such as sport (Dunn & Causgrove, 1999). Duda et. al., (1995) founded the task and ego orientation have important implication for sustained motivation and quality of experiences in competitions. They also found that there are four goal orientation groups: high task and high ego (HT/HE), high task and low ego (HT/LE), low task and high ego (LT/HE), and low task and low ego (LT/LE). 5. Conceptual Framework Figure 1: Conceptual framework of the latent variables Based on the objective of this study is to determine the dimension of overall social supports that may influence the mental strength and how goal orientation influence UiTM footballers behavior. Drawing from the theory of self-determination, attachment, and achievement, the present study explores the social support (from parents, coach, friends, and government), mental strength (self-confidence, motivational control, and focus control) and goal orientation (task and ego orientation).the hypotheses relationship stated in figure 1 will guide this study. Therefore the findings of this study will offer both theoretical and practical implications. 66

4 6. Methodology 6.1 Sample and data collection method The subjects are UiTM students from the Faculty of Sport Science and Recreation and from other faculties such as accounting, engineering, and business management. The matter of sampling approach is of relevance to researchers and therefore must be dealt with respectively so that biasness and representativeness are not neglected. It is important that the demographic profile of the respondents is used as a guideline to decide on the composition of the respondents, age and level of education. With regards to sample size, it is determine by the statistical requirements as provided by Tabachnick & Fidell (2001) who stated that correlation coefficients are less consistent when estimated from small samples especially so for structural equation modelling (SEM). In this current research, a random sampling method was employed to create the samples necessary for quantitatively testing the scale items. More specifically, the sample consists of (N= 183) UiTM football players that are actively involved in local and international competitions. The selection of the population of UiTM football players is because it is considered a high performance sport. All participants are full time students and the age range is between years. The participants are asked to complete the Social Support Questionnaire is adopted from Sarason et. al., (1987). Psychological Performance Inventory (PPI) adopted from Middleton et. al., (2005) and Task and Ego Orientation in Sports Questionnaire (TEOSQ) was adopted from Duda & Nicholls (1989) in a designated room, either before or after their individual participation in the games. When the survey questionnaire is administered to the respondents, verbal instructions are given to them, apart from the written instructions so as to ensure that the questionnaire is responded to correctly. Participants are brief on what is needed of them, and how to write down their responses. The subsequent area will deal with the key statistical analysis method used for testing the hypotheses of this research. The selection of the data analysis technique in the current research is based on the ability of the technique to produce constant and valid results and to analyze and explain the relationships among the several variables: 1) social support from parents, 2) social support from coach, 3) social support from friends, 4) social support from the government, 5) overall social support, 6) self-confidence, 7) motivation control, 8) focus control, 9) task orientation and 10) ego orientation. Consequently, this research focuses on hypothesis testing using confirmatory rather than exploratory analysis. (Kline, 1998). A characteristic of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with structural equation modeling is the suitable technique rather than other multivariate analysis technique (i.e., multiple regression analysis and exploratory factor analysis) is used in this particular research. It is imperative that internal consistency, the scale reliability and validity analysis techniques, which consisted of an analysis of missing data, outliers, normality, factor analysis and Cronbach s alpha are some of the tests which must be done as part of the purification processes. The entire test must be done prior to multivariate analysis (i.e., SEM) so that measurements that produce poor results can be erased. 67

5 6.2 Instrumentation For the purpose of gathering data in this study, three adopted questionnaires will be used to test the relationship of social support, mental strength, and goal orientation in the case study of UiTM football players. All questionnaires will be measured using a 7 point likert scale from either (1) very strongly disagree to (7) very strongly agree. The questionnaires are Social support Questionnaire (parents, family, friends, coach, government) adopted from Sarason, Sarason, Shearin &Pierce (1987) is validated in Bahasa Melayu. Previous study by Sarason, Levine, Basham, & Sarason -item reported the coefficient alpha is 0.94.Test retest corelations is 0.90 for overall number score. Psychological Performance Inventory (PPI) adopted from Middleton et. al., (2005) is validated in Bahasa Melayu. Previous study by Asmuni et. al., (2009) reported the reliability of the PPI Questionnaire is 0.92.The Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire adopted from Duda & Nicholls (1989) is validated in Bahasa Melayu. A previous study by Kuan & Roy (2007) reported 7. Finding & Discussion 7.1 Structural Model Figure 2 : Table above shown a summarizes the fit indices which notably indicate an acceptable χ²/df index of which is below the threshold value of Additionally, other fit indices such as GFI, AGFI, CFI and IFI are all above the threshold value of while RMR index is 0.05 which is close to zero and RMSEA is which is within the acceptable range of Therefore, the hypothesized model is a good fit to the data. 68

6 7.2 Summary of Measurements for the Structural Model No Structural Paths Standardised Coefficient Critical Ratio p Results H 1 Social support parents Social support *** H 2 Social support from coach Social support H 3 social support from friends Social support H 4 social support from the government Social support H 5 Social support self-confidence *** H 6 self-confidence motivation control *** H 7 motivation control focus control *** H 8 Social support focus control Rejected H 9 self-confidence focus control H 10 Social support task orientation *** H 11 focus control task orientation Rejected H 12 focus control ego orientation *** H 13 task orientation ego orientation Rejected H 14 self-confidence ego orientation Rejected H 15 Social support ego orientation *** Figure 3: The table above shown a summary of the statistically significant standardized estimates of path coefficients, with the level of statistical significance indicated by the value p < 0.05, of 15 causal paths specified in the structural model, 11 are found to be statistically significant in this study (p < 0.05). 69

7 7.3 Summary of Objectives, Research Question, Hypotheses and Results No Objectives Research Questions H Hypotheses Results 1 To determine the antecedents of the overall social support. RQ 1 : What are the significant antecedents to the overall social support? H 1 Social support from parents (ssp) directly contributes to overall social support (ssu) H 2 Social support from coach (ssc) directly contributes to overall social support (ssu). H 3 Social support from friends (ssf) directly contributes to overall social support (ssu). H 4 Social support from the government (ssg) directly contributes to overall social support. 2 To examine the relationship of overall social support antecedents (parents, coach, friends, and government) and mental strength antecedents (self confidence, motivational control, focus control). RQ 2 : What are the significant relationship of overall social support antecedents and mental strength antecedents? H 5 There is a positive social support (ssu) and self-confidence (sco). H 6 There is a significant selfconfidence (sco) and motivation control (mco). H 7 There is a significant motivation control (mco) and focus control (fco). 70

8 H 8 There is a significant social support (ssu) and focus control (fco). Not H 9 There is a significant selfconfidence (sco) and focus control (fco). 3 To examine the relationship of overall social support (parents, coach, friends, and government), mental strength (self confidence, motivational control, focus control) and goal orientation (task and ego orientation). RQ 3 : What are the significant relationship of overall social support mental strength and goal orientation antecedents. H 10 There is a significant social support (ssu) and task orientation (tas) H 11 There is a significant focus control (fco) and task orientation (tas). H 12 There is a significant focus control and ego orientation (ego). Not H 13 There is a significant task orientation (tas) and ego orientation (ego). Not H 14 There is a significant selfconfidence (sco) and ego orientation (ego). Not H 15 There is a significant social support (ssu) and ego orientation (ego). 71

9 The finding in this study has revealed the antecedents of the overall social support (OSS), examining the relationship of OSS, mental strength antecedents and the relationship within the mental strength interments itself. Finally, this study also revealed the relationships among OSS, mental strength and goal orientation that explain the footballers behavioral. 8. Conclusion and Future Recommendation The theoretical implications primarily with regards to the three theories: 1) achievement theory, 2) self-determination theory, 3) attachment theory. While the first requirement which is viability has been established through hypotheses testing, the second, which is utility, refers to the importance of the hypothesised model as perceived by the practitioners. In addition, the contributions are underscored in light of the researcher s argument that there is a dearth of studies that adopts a hypothesised model as conceived for this present study, especially more so within the context of the football players in UiTM. The findings provide new empirical evidence and add to the body of knowledge to the existing sports literatures and provide practitioners with the notion of mental strength of the players so that appropriate training programme can be develop in line with their goal orientation and social support. Anchoring on the theory, the hypothesised model, it can be demonstrated that the role of overall social support is indeed an important prerequisite to both mental strength and goal orientation. The present study has created an opportunity to the researcher to acquire a new skill pertaining to the technique of data analyses and more importantly, the methodological contribution is the mainly related to the development of robust measures which enable empirical testing of the hypothesized model. In light of the paucity of studies on football players in the among university students, it is argued that this present study contributed by providing empirical evidence on the indeed, the four constructs are significantly related to the overall social support, which are in turn found to have significant relationship to mental strength and goal orientation. The concept of mental strength as depicted in the hypothesized model is argued to be pivotal to achieving higher standard among football players. Whereas practical implication of this study s result revealed that overall social support, mental strength and task orientation can be a valuable means to provide powerful and streamlined techniques for enhancing the footballer s performance. This study suggest that UiTM, Football Association Malaysia (FAM), National Sports Council, Ministry of Youth and Sport, coaches, and others involved in the enhancing the excellence standard of footballers to vigilantly look into the OSS, mental strength, ego and task orientation antecedents by personal improvement of training, courses, seminars or other forms of learning in order for the country achieving and sustaining worldclass performance in sport. This study suggests that future study should include qualitative studies in addition to quantitative method in understanding the real world of the footballers or sportsman during the competition and also looking into bigger samples of amateur and professional sportsman (Ives, 2011). A longitudinal study would be particularly useful to observe the model changes from one phase of footballers or any sportsman s performance by applying the model. 72

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