The Sport Commitment Model (SCM) is a way to understand what makes people keep playing sports (Scanlan & Chow, 2019). It’s a theory about motivation, or why someone wants to keep doing something. Researchers (Scanlan et al., 2003; Scanlan et al., 2009; Scanlan et al., 2013; Scanlan et al., 2016) studied this theory using different methods over several studies. There are two types of commitment: enthusiastic and constrained (Scanlan & Chow, 2019). Enthusiastic commitment means someone wants to keep playing a sport because they enjoy it. Constrained commitment means someone feels like they have to keep playing a sport, even if they don’t really want to. Different things can make someone feel committed to a sport, like having fun, feeling supported, or wanting to be really good (Scanlan et al.,2016). Research conducted by Scanlan et al (2016) found there are different sources of commitment and that some sources are related to enthusiastic commitment, while others are related to constrained commitment.
Scanlan, T. K., Chow, G. M. (2019). In D. Hackfort, R. J. Schinke, & B. Strauss (Eds.), Dictionary of sport psychology: Sport, exercise, and performing arts. Academic Press.
Scanlan, T. K., Chow, G. M., Sousa, C., Scanlan, L. A., & Knifsend, C. A. (2016). The development of the Sport Commitment Questionnaire-2 (English Version). Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 22, 233246.
Scanlan, T. K., Russell, D. G., Beals, K. P., & Scanlan, L. A. (2003). Project on Elite Athlete Commitment (PEAK): II. A direct test and expansion of the Sport Commitment Model with elite amateur sportsmen. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 25, 377401.
Scanlan, T. K., Russell, D. G., Magyar, T. M., & Scanlan, L. A. (2009). Project on Elite Athlete Commitment (PEAK): III. An examination of the external validity across gender, and the expansion and clarification of the Sport Commitment Model. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 31, 685705.
Scanlan, T. K., Russell, D. G., Scanlan, L. A., Klunchoo, T., & Chow, G. M. (2013). Project on Elite Athlete Commitment (PEAK): IV. Identification of new candidate commitment sources for the Sport Commitment Model. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 35, 525535.
