Achievement motivation in elite combat athletes: computerised objective assessment

The objective of the study was to identify the differences in task motivation, personal goal motivation, aspiration level, and competence motivation in combat sports, depending on gender, type of sport and competitive level. To overcome the limitations of self-report motivation assessments, achievement motivation was assessed by means of a computerised objective test, the Objective Achievement Motivation Test (OLMT, Schuhfried (R)). The sample comprised 69 judo and wrestling combat athletes. A MANOVA test was carried out to analyse the differences in gender (male and female), type of sport (wrestling and judo), and competitive level (high-performance athletes and lower level athletes), as well as t-tests for independent samples. Significant differences were only found in the aspiration level variable in terms of gender, with a moderate-to-high effect size in favour of women (d (R).6). These results point in two directions: first, to consider differences in comparison to other studies on achievement motivation, in which significant differences appear when self-report is used. Second, emphasise the importance of going deeper into the study of the aspiration level as a core aspect of achievement motivation, which could explain sports engagement in combat sports, as well as its relationship with variables such as satisfaction, tolerance to frustration or sport abandonment. The use of the computerised psychological assessment is defended by justifying tests such as the OLMT to achieve more accurate results in studies conducted within the framework of sport motivation.