The relationship between basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation in the coach's leadership style on the subjective well-being of Special Olympics adapted sports athletes

The technical and scientific community is aware of the role of physical activity in motivation and the well-being that comes from it for the practitioner, and that the deepening of this knowledge for athletes with Intellectual and Developmental Difficulties of Adapted Sport is presented, as an asset to create strategies by their coaches. In this cross-sectional study, 94 athletes with Intellectual and Developmental Difficulties participated, aged between 11 and 63 years (X=32.6 +/- SD=13.8 years), of both genders. The purpose of the study was to analyze whether and in what way Basic Psychological Needs - relationship, autonomy and social relationship and Autonomous Motivation mediate the relationship of the Democratic Style variables with Subjective Well-being - satisfaction with life and positive affects. Statistical analysis was performed using multiple serial mediation models, using the PROCESS macro for SPSS, version 3 (model 6), using the bootstrap method with 10,000 samples. There is a mediation effect between Basic Psychological Needs and Autonomous Motivation, exercised between the coach's Democratic leadership profile and the athlete's subjective well-being. On the other hand, the Autocratic Style has a significant direct effect on increasing Basic Psychological Needs and Controlled Motivation. However, the Democratic Style is more consistent in this type of analysis. Our results reinforce the importance of promoting a democratic leadership style on the part of the coach in their athletes, enhancing a direct effect on Satisfaction with life and positive Affects in Adapted Sports athletes with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Members of Special Olympics.