Personal theories of achievement motivation among African and white mainstream American athletes

Cross-cultural/ethnic research in sport psychology is important due to the widespread participation of ethnic minority groups in sport, particularly African Americans, and the immense impact culture/ethnicity have on people's perceptions. The purpose of this investigation was twofold: 1) to examine the relationship of race, gender, and ethnic identity on the goal orientations operating in sport, and 2) to determine the interdependencies between beliefs about the determinants of sport success and goal orientations among 116 white mainstream American and 55 African American high school track and field athletes. Race, gender and/or ethnic identity differences in goals were observed, The observed relationships between dispositional goal perspectives and beliefs were consistent with past work and the tenets of goal perspective theory.