Studying of Attribution Styles and Motivation of Elite and Sub-Elite Athletes in Individual Sports

The aim of this study is studying attributions in athlete''s success and failure and motivation too. The population of this study includes national team''s athletes in swimming، badminton، karate، taekwondo، ping pong and wrestling Disciplines. Samples selected through convenience sampling and 120 players were selected by Phased approach. Then، Data were collected by two questionnaires: Attribution Styles Questionnaire (ASQ) &sport motivation scale (SMS). Analyzing the Data was performed by MANOVA and the significance level (0. 05). The findings showed that elite athletes express more unstable and specific attribution in the face of Failure conditions In contrast sub-elite athletes expressed more stable and general attribution in the face of Failure conditions (p≤0. 05). Elite athletes have more intrinsic and extrinsic motivation level than sub-elite athletes. Sub-elite athletes are lower motivated than elite athletes (p≤0. 05). As a result، attribution styles of elite and sub-elite athletes in different causal dimensions are different and also there is a significant difference between motivational levels of elite and sub-elite athletes (p≤0. 05).