How Parental Support Influences University Football Players' Intention to Continue Sport: The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

This study examined the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between perceived parental support and intention to continue sport among Korean university football players. Using a sample of male university football players registered with the Korea Football Association, we employed structural equation modeling to test a mediation model based on self-determination theory. Participants completed measures assessing parental support, intrinsic motivation, and intention to continue sport on 7-point Likert scales. The results revealed that parental support had no significant direct effect on sport continuation intention and a significant positive effect on intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation, in turn, strongly predicted sport continuation intention. The mediation analysis demonstrated that intrinsic motivation fully mediated the relationship between parental support and sport continuation intention, with parental support influencing athletes' commitment exclusively through the enhancement of intrinsic motivation. The model demonstrated strong predictive validity and explained a substantial portion of the variance in sport continuation intention. These findings suggest that parental support influences athletes' commitment to sport entirely through enhancing their intrinsic motivation rather than through any direct influence. The study contributes to sport psychology literature by providing empirical evidence for the complex psychological mechanisms underlying athletic commitment in university settings and offers practical implications for developing interventions that promote sustained sport engagement among collegiate athletes.