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German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research
Erschienen in: German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research 1/2019

10.12.2018 | Review

Parental (over-)ambition in competitive youth sport

A multi-theoretical approach

verfasst von: Gunter Straub

Erschienen in: German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research | Ausgabe 1/2019

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Abstract

Parental investments in competitive youth sport are just as indispensable as manifold. Parental ambition against this background can be thought as a particular, inner psychic resource which is brought into the young athletes’ career in a similar way just like periodic chauffeur services or financial support. Parental ambition can be defined as an increased achievement motivation by the guardians; it is associated with high expectations and striving for control of the children. In this article, the attempt is to make plausible both parental ambition and parental over-ambition by using various theoretical models. Regarding the emergence of an innocuous or possibly functional type of ambition and the pathological form of over-ambition, an inadequate personality development in over-ambitious parents is believed to be the distinctive feature. In order to understand better the genesis and consequences of excessive parental ambition, thoughts are presented which are psychoanalytic in nature. In this context, the role-theory by the German family therapist Horst-Eberhard Richter and Heinz Kohut’s self-psychology are fundamental for providing explanatory performance. Moreover, the expectancy-value model by the pedagogical psychologist Jacquelynne S. Eccles has been proven useful in order to account for interindividual and interfamilial variations in parental ambition on an everyday basis. Finally, implications for scientific research and sport practice are presented.
Fußnoten
1
Wendy S. Grolnick is widely-known for her studies on the “pressured parent phenomenon”. This item can be described as “a visceral anxiety, triggered when the ever-increasing competition—academic, athletic, social, or artistic—that [the] kids face today switches on [the parents’] physiological hardwiring” (Grolnick & Seal, 2008, p. 26). Her work is scientifically rooted in the self-determination theory framework as well as in clinical psychology. Prof. Grolnick is interested in how social contexts and especially varying styles of parental behaviour influence children’s motivation and achievement. Grolnick’s theory of parenting styles (2003) already had an immediate impact on the field of sport science (Holt, Tamminen, Black, Mandigo, & Fox, 2009).
 
2
According to Sherif and Cantril (1947), ego-involvement can be understood as a person’s inner connectedness to a task which is framed by a constellation of social or personal values. The degree of inner connectedness varies according to the valence of the task for the individual and manifests itself in a certain aspiration level.
 
3
Lee and MacLean (1997) developed the Parental Involvement in Sport Questionnaire (PISQ). Using this survey instrument, one can measure to what extent the perceived amount of parental support matches the athlete’s personal desire in terms of assistance and backing.
 
4
To be precise, there are indeed reasons (e. g., disciplinary ones) for excluding an athlete from training or holding him back from competition. The point which label this behavior abusive are the attitudes and emotions that underlie such activities. Stirling and Kerr, for example, mention a specific case where an elite female swimmer was “kicked out of the weight room for three months because there was a misunderstanding about what the reps were supposed to be for a set” (2008, p. 176).
 
5
Admittedly, one may make use of a particular strength of the rational choice theory by explaining maladaptive facets of parental behaviors as unintentional consequences of intentional action (see Diefenbach, 2009).
 
6
The endeavor to conceive parental ambition psychodynamically on a conceptual level had been existing (long) before Richter’s work (see, for example, Symonds, 1949). The phenomenon of parental ambition, however, was particularly elaborated and explicitly applied to after-school activities by Richter (2012 [1963]).
 
7
In daily life, the concept of narcissism is frequently and simply equated with the catchword “self-love”. One has to distinguish fundamentally between a healthy narcissism and a narcissistic personality disorder (Maaz, 2016). The first is a need for, or striving for, acknowledgement or recognition of the self by, or through, the other. The second is an excessive or regressive narcissism dominated, in essence, by “a total self-centeredness while completely excluding others” (Auchter, 2016, p. 5, translation by the author). Narcissistic personalities have big to very big difficulties to put themselves into the shoes of fellow human beings and are characterized by an enormous emotional vulnerability, which can be awakened easily. When observed from the outside, they appear to be arrogant, in extreme cases a massive egocentrism is unmistakable (see Leuzinger-Bohleber & Weiß, 2014). Aside from this, the term projection denotes a primitive mental defense mechanism used by an individual to ascribe, or “carry over”, unbearable impulses (e. g., affects, intentions, assessments) on an unconscious way to another person. In this way, painful emotions (e. g., shame, guilt feelings, anxiety) do not need to be experienced by this individual on his or her own (see List, 2009).
 
8
“Selfobjects” were defined originally as “objects which are themselves experienced as part of the self” (Kohut, 1971, p. xiv). Later in the history of self-psychology, “the selfobject became a dimension of experiencing another person whose functions are related to the self” (Oppenheimer, 2005). According to the main functions fulfilled, Kohut (1971, 1977) distinguished between mirroring selfobjects and idealized selfobjects. The former kind of selfobjects results in experiences such as “You admire me, and therefore I feel affirmed as a person of worth”. The latter type stands for experiences like “I admire you, therefore my sense of self and self-worth are enhanced by my vicarious participation in your strength and power” (Messer & Wolitzky, 2007, p. 73). An “object” can be understood as an imago of a (reference) person (Lichtenberg & Hilkert, 2000). Hence, it is important to keep in mind that a selfobject is not a concrete person but an intra-psychic representation of the respective object (Oppenheimer, 2005). Wolf (1985) stated: “Strictly speaking, […], selfobjects are neither self nor object; they are the subjective aspect of a function performed by a relationship” (p. 271).
 
9
The individual psychologist Krug (2013) apprehends the exaggeration of aspiration as well as the fanatical narrowing and rigidity shown in the process of goal attainment as “pathological overcompensation” (p. 29). Exaggerated aspirations are thereby seen not only in terms of one’s own performance capability, but also in regard to the achievement potential of others.
 
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Metadaten
Titel
Parental (over-)ambition in competitive youth sport
A multi-theoretical approach
verfasst von
Gunter Straub
Publikationsdatum
10.12.2018
Verlag
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Erschienen in
German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research / Ausgabe 1/2019
Print ISSN: 2509-3142
Elektronische ISSN: 2509-3150
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-018-0561-9

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