Motivation, participation and performance in physical education: A self-determination approach.

Abstract

Introduction: Within the academic field there has been given increasing attention to motivation in physical education (PE). In the current study a Self-Determination Theory (SDT) model was tested in which (1) perceived autonomy support from teachers were hypothesized to be positively associated with students’ needs satisfaction, (2) which was expected to be positively associated with autonomous motivation and (3) negatively associated with amotivation. Further, (4) autonomous motivation was hypothesized to positively predict both a) participation and b) grades in Physical Education (PE), whereas (5) amotivation was expected to predict both these outcomes negatively. Results: Both bivariate correlations and linear multiple regression models supported the hypotheses in the SDT model.