Success versus failure to outcomes in sport: Determining the role motivation plays in attributions

The current research investigates 111 soccer athletes before and after a regular season game. Participants completed the TEOSQ and CDS-II to determine their motivation and attributions. High task orientation emerged as predictive of high external control, personal control and internal causality. In win situations, significant relationships were found between task and personal control and task and causality. For level of play, significant relationships emerged in the recreation league between high task orientation and stability and high ego orientation and external control and in the competitive league between high ego and causality. In win situations, significant relationships were found for high ego and both causality, high ego and external control, and high task and external control. This indicates that win/loss outcome variables as well as level of play affect attributions.