Sport Motivation Scale

What is the Sport Motivation Scale?

The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) is a crucial tool in sport psychology designed to assess various aspects of motivation in sports and exercise contexts. Initially developed based on self-determination theory, the SMS evaluates both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among youth sports and adolescent athletes. The revised Sport Motivation Scale, often referred to as the SMS-II, offers an updated framework for understanding these motivations, particularly among youth athletes.

The Sport Motivation Scale II (SMS-II) was developed by Rocchi, Vallerand, Deci, and Ryan (2013). Its development was published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in 2012, where it was presented as a revised version of the original Sport Motivation Scale, addressing its psychometric properties and aligning it more closely with Self-Determination Theory (SDT) principles

The SMS II examines how factors like intrinsic motivation—where athletes engage in sports for personal satisfaction—and extrinsic motivation—where participation is driven by external rewards—affect sports participation and performance.

According to sports science, practicing sports reflects perceptual and motor skills. The scale is widely used in sports sciences and exercise psychology to study human behavior, social psychology, basic psychological needs, human motivation, and integrated regulation.

How to conduct the Sport Motivation Scale?

Conducting the SMS-II involves a systematic approach and self determination theory to accurately assess an individual’s motivation towards sports activities. The scale is designed to evaluate seven types of motivation, including intrinsic motivation subscales toward knowledge, accomplishment, mental health, and stimulation, as well as external, introjected, and identified regulation, and motivation.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how medical professionals can effectively administer the Sports Motivation Scale II:

Step 1: Access and download the scale template

Access the free SMI-II template by clicking "Use Template". You can also download a PDF version by clicking the "Download" button.

Step 2: Prepare the assessment materials

Begin by ensuring you have the Sport Motivation Scale ready for administration. The revised version consists of 18 items with six sub-scales. Make sure you have the scale in the appropriate format, whether paper-based or digital and that it is prepared for distribution to the participants.

Step 3: Explain the purpose and instructions

Clearly explain to the participants the purpose of the Sport Motivation Scale template and how the results will be used. Provide a brief overview of the seven types of motivation being assessed. Make sure to give clear instructions on how to respond to each item, emphasizing that they should rate their agreement with each statement on a 7-point scale.

Step 4: Administer the scale

Distribute the Sport Motivation Scale to the participants. Ensure that they understand they need to respond to all 18 items based on their experiences and feelings related to sports activities. Provide a quiet and comfortable environment for them to complete the scale to ensure they can focus and provide accurate responses.

Step 5: Collect and review responses

Once participants have completed the scale, collect the responses and review them for completeness. Ensure that all 18 items have been answered and that there are no missing responses. This step is crucial for maintaining the accuracy of the assessment.

Step 6: Analyze the results

Analyze the responses by scoring each item according to the 7-point scale. Aggregate the scores for each of the seven sub-scales for self-determination and know the level of motivation in each category. This analysis will provide insights into the participants' intrinsic regulation, physical fitness, and extrinsic motivations as well as their overall engagement and motivation toward sports activities.

Scoring

The Sports Motivation Scale-II can be scored by either totaling or averaging the responses, depending on your analysis needs. To obtain a total score, sum all the item scores to get an overall view of the participant's motivation.

For an average score, divide the total score by the number of items (18), which normalizes the results and allows for easier comparisons across different scales or populations.

The SMS-II also includes six subscales to assess different types of motivation: intrinsic regulation, integrated regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and non-regulation/amotivation.

These subscales measure the degree to which individuals are motivated by their own interests and values (intrinsic), have fully assimilated a behavior into their sense of self (integrated), value the importance or usefulness of a behavior (identified), engage in behaviors due to pressure or guilt (introjected), act solely based on external rewards or punishments (external), or lack any motivation towards a specific activity (non-regulation/amotivation).

You can calculate scores for each subscale by summing the corresponding items and then totaling or averaging those scores.

Next steps after using the scale

After administering and scoring the Sport Motivation Scale, medical professionals should take several key steps to effectively utilize the results. First, review the scores from each sub-scale to identify patterns in the participant’s motivation, noting areas of high and low motivation. Use this information to tailor interventions that address specific motivational needs, such as enhancing intrinsic motivation or addressing amotivation.

Monitor progress by reassessing the participant periodically using the Sport Motivation Scale to evaluate changes in motivation and adjust interventions as needed. This ongoing evaluation will support continuous improvement in the participant’s sports engagement and new performance strategies.

Reference

Pelletier, L. G., Rocchi, M. A., Vallerand, R. J., Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2013). Validation of the revised sport motivation scale (SMS-II). Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14(3), 329-341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2012.12.002