Athletes' Perception of Coach Power Use and the Association between Playing Status and Sport Satisfaction

This study explored the influence of athletes' playing status on perceptions of coach power use, and how such behaviors served as predictors of athletes' satisfaction for their sport. Participants included male and female high school football and basketball players who completed measures of their coaches' power use (coercive, referent, legitimate, expert, and reward) and sport satisfaction. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant main effect for athlete playing status, whereby starters perceived higher levels of reward power use when compared to non-starters. Likewise, the results indicated that coaches' reward and expert power use were the only significant predictors of athlete satisfaction levels.