Sources

Every study we cite on this site, with a link to the original.

• Al-Yaaribi and Kavussanu (2018)

  358 soccer boys aged 10 to 18. Rough treatment from teammates, anger and effort

• Aspen Institute Project Play and Utah State (2019)

  Survey of 1,032 parents. How long kids stay in a sport, and why they leave

• Aspen Institute Project Play (2026)

  Survey of 3,827 youth aged 10 to 17, run in fall 2025. What they like and dislike about sport, and when they stop

• Assor, Roth and Deci (2004)

  University students and their parents. Approval that depends on performance. Correlational

• Assor and Tal (2012)

  153 teens. Extra affection for success, pride and shame

• Back and colleagues (2022)

  Review of 16 studies following 6,304 team-sport players. Why young players drop out

• Bennett-Pierre and colleagues (2024)

  Experiment with 150 kids averaging 8. Kinds of praise and persistence

• Bentzen, Hordvik, Stenersen and Solstad (2021)

  34 Norwegian handball players moving up a school level. How quitting builds

• Bois, Lalanne and Delforge (2009)

  341 basketball and tennis players. Parents' presence and behavior before competition

• Brummelman and colleagues (2014)

  240 kids aged 8 to 12. Over-the-top praise and kids low in confidence

• Brummelman and colleagues (2017)

  120 kids aged 7 to 11 followed for about 18 months. Parents' inflated praise and self-esteem

• Choi and colleagues (2022)

  70 children aged about 3 to 6. How young kids judge effort and skill

• Coutinho and colleagues (2024)

  336 boys aged 13 to 16 in five team sports. What parents focus on, and fear of failing

• Eliasson and Johansson (2021)

  12 Swedish girls aged 12 to 17 who left floorball, and 12 parents

• Elliott and Drummond (2017)

  52 kids aged 12 to 13 and 34 parents in junior Australian football. Talk after the game

• Emm-Collison and colleagues (2022)

  Review of UK interview studies with kids aged 5 to 11

• Escofet-Martín, Ros-Morente and Torrelles-Nadal (2025)

  Review of 21 studies. Bullying in youth sport compared with school

• Evans, Adler, MacDonald and Côté (2016)

  359 adolescent team-sport athletes. Bullying among teammates

• Fitton Davies and colleagues (2025)

  77 children averaging 6. What they like and dislike in school PE

• Fraser-Thomas, Côté and Deakin (2008), JASP

  25 teen swimmers who quit and 25 who stayed

• Fraser-Thomas, Côté and Deakin (2008), PSE

  Interviews with 10 swimmers who quit and 10 who stayed

• Fry and Duda (1997)

  144 kids aged 5 to 13. Effort and ability on physical and school tasks

• Furusa, Knight and Hill (2021)

  Focus groups with 32 kids aged 8 to 11 in six sports. What parents do that helps them enjoy sport

• Gable and colleagues (2004) and Gable, Gonzaga and Strachman (2006)

  How people respond to good news, and closeness. College students and couples

• Gao and colleagues (2024)

  Review of 29 studies of athletes aged 8 to 22. Parents and young athletes' motivation

• Gardner, Magee and Vella (2017)

  327 Australian kids followed for a year. Enjoyment and dropout

• Gledhill and colleagues (2026)

  343 Swedish hockey players aged 10 to 19. What makes sport fun

• Griffith and Hankin (2021)

  146 kids aged 10 to 14 and their parents, checked in through the day. Sharing good news

• Gunderson and colleagues (2013)

  53 children. Kinds of praise at ages 1 to 3 and kids' beliefs about improving at 7 to 8

• Haines and Schutte (2023)

  Review of 31 studies of 11,404 young people. Parents' approval that depends on performance

• Hamann, Thrower, Stokoe and Harwood (2025)

  13 junior tennis players aged 8 to 18 and their parents. Recorded car rides home

• Kniffin and Palacio (2018)

  291 college athletes. Trash talk

• Knight, Boden and Holt (2010)

  42 junior tennis players aged 12 to 15. What they want from parents

• Knight, Neely and Holt (2011)

  36 girls aged 12 to 15 in team sports. What they want from parents

• Knight and Holt (2014)

  90 tennis players, former players, parents and coaches

• Knight, Little, Harwood and Goodger (2016)

  8 elite junior canoeists averaging 15, followed through selection races

• Kromerova-Dubinskiene and Sukys (2020)

  587 Lithuanian youth athletes averaging 14. Parents' success standards and self-esteem

• Li and Bates (2019)

  624 children aged 9 to 13 in China. A repeat of the praise experiments

• Lisinskiene, Guetterman and Sukys (2018)

  648 students aged 15 to 16 and interviews with 16-year-old athletes in Lithuania. What they want from parents

• Milovanović and colleagues (2020)

  482 club athletes aged 6 to 16 in six European countries. Being picked on or left out by teammates

• Mishna (2004)

  61 kids in grades 4 and 5. School bullying and telling adults

• Mueller and Dweck (1998)

  Experiments with fifth graders. Praise for being smart vs. praise for effort

• Muenks and Miele (2017)

  Review of research on how kids think about effort and ability. School settings

• Neely, McHugh, Dunn and Holt (2017)

  14 girls cut from provincial teams and 14 parents

• Nicholls (1978)

  How children aged 5 to 13 understand effort and ability. Where that finding started

• O'Rourke, Smith, Smoll and Cumming (2011), (2012), (2014)

  Youth swimmers. Parent pressure, what parents count as success, and kids' anxiety and self-esteem

• Omli and Wiese-Bjornstal (2011)

  Kids aged 7 to 14. How they want parents to act at games

• Partridge and Knapp (2016)

  Interviews with 15 girls aged 14 to 18. Conflict between teammates

• Ring and colleagues (2019)

  Experiment with 60 college students. Insults from an opponent, anger and performance

• Schwebel, Smith and Smoll (2016)

  543 rec basketball players aged 9 to 16. Parents' success standards

• Secaras, Driska and Erickson (2023)

  14 high school team leaders, boys and girls. Where teammate conflict comes from

• Shi and colleagues (2024)

  233 kids averaging 12 and their mothers, China. How mothers respond to kids' good moods

• Shields, Bredemeier, LaVoi and Power (2005)

  803 athletes in grades 5 to 8. Sportsmanship and poor behavior

• Strandbu, Stefansen, Smette and Sandvik (2019)

  Focus groups with Norwegian teens. Parents' role in sport and in quitting

• Tamminen, Poucher and Povilaitis (2017)

  27 athletes aged 11 to 16 and their parents. Conversations on the drive home

• Ullrich-French and Smith (2006), (2009)

  Youth soccer players. Friends and parents, stress, staying on the team

• Visek and colleagues (2015), (2020)

  Youth soccer players, coaches and parents. What makes sports fun