Understanding Youth Sport Motivation from a Developmental Perspective: Narrative Review and Conceptual Synthesis

This narrative review aims to synthesise recent literature on motivational factors underlying sport participation in children and adolescents. Specifically, it aims to (1) derive key conceptual themes (motivational factors) from the literature, (2) outline how these motivational constructs may vary across development, and (3) integrate underlying developmental theoretical perspectives such as competence motivation (Harter, 1978), achievement goal (Nicholls, 1984) and self-determination (Deci and Ryan, 1985). This is important to establish a comprehensive overview of the current literature, alongside potential mechanistic underpinnings, and identify gaps for future research.