designing a structural model of psychological factors affecting the development of motivation towards participation in sports among children

Background: identifying the factors motivating children to participate in sport activities, such as football, is of great importance. that mentioned, the present study aimed to investigate the internal and external psychological factors affecting the development of children’s motivation to participate in football activities.method: in this study, we used descriptive-correlation method via structural equation modelling. we recruited 129 male children aged 11 to 14 years old who attended football schools of tehran, iran, in 2022. moreover, the research variables were measured with a self-made questionnaire, including 32 items for assessing eight factors (four internal and four external factors). we also utilized structural equation method via lisrel for examining the structural relationships among the research variables.results: the participants’ body mass index (bmi) was in a normal range {median of 16.50(1.45)]. the results showed that both internal factors (attractiveness of sports, t=4.828; sense of responsibility, t=5.618; challenge spirit, t=3.117; sense of advancement, t=4.909) and external ones (team climate, t=2.847; social encouragement and support, t=5.108; content of practice, t=4.010; coach support, t=5.552) had significant and direct effects on children’s motivation to participate in football. furthermore, the results of model fit revealed the good fit (rmsea=0.05) of our model.conclusion: it was found to be necessary that coaches make efforts to meet children’s basic psychological needs (including autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in order to increase intrinsic motivation in children.