Moral identity and social goals predict eudaimonia in football

The purpose of this study was to examine whether moral identity and social goals predict eudaimonia in youth footballers. Participants were 365 (227 males) youth football players (M age = 13.37 years, SD = 1.85), who completed questionnaires measuring moral identity, social goal orientations (i.e., social affiliation, social recognition, and social status), and eudaimonia. Eudaimonia was positively predicted by moral identity, social affiliation and social recognition. In addition, an interaction emerged whereby moral identity predicted eudaimonia when social affiliation was low. Explanations are offered for the findings and discussed in relation to theory and past research. Finally, directions for future work are provided. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.