No abstract

Research illustrates the positive roles of perceived competence, autonomy, and mastery climate and the negative role of performance climate in student motivation in physical education. Less research has examined perceptions of relationships within this setting (i.e., perceived teacher support and relatedness) and their role in student motivation. The purpose of this study was to test the mediating roles of perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness in the relationship between social contextual factors and motivation in physical education students (N = 508). Results from structural equation modeling showed that perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness partially mediated the relationship between perceived teacher support and self-determined motivation and that mastery climate related directly to self-determined motivation. The results highlight the importance of perceived teacher support, mastery climate, and relatedness to motivation in physical education.

Understanding the role of perceived competence in the motivation of sport and physical activity is an important endeavor. This study attempted to examine the role of perceived competence by (a) investigating its relationship with goal orientations as hypothesized by Nicholls’s theory of achievement motivation, and (b) testing a proposed model linking goal orientations and motivated behavior. Students (N = 174) completed questionnaires assessing goal orientations, perceived competence, intrinsic interest, and effort. Regression analyses revealed that task orientation was a good predictor of effort; however, the interaction of ego orientation and perceived competence failed to adequately predict effort. Path analysis results revealed that task goal orientation, but not ego orientation, directly influenced perceived competence, intrinsic interest, and effort. In addition, intrinsic interest played a mediating role between perceived competence and effort and between task goal orientation and effort.

This study investigated two research questions: (1) do goal involvement and state anxiety vary between athletic games and athletic practices? and (2) do goal orientations change over the course of a competitive season as a function of the perceived team motivational climate? Middle school athletes (n = 127) were assessed on goal orientations, goal involvement, state anxiety, and motivational climate. Results indicated that athletes were more task involved and less anxious in practice than in game situations, and task goal orientation changed over the season relative to perceptions of mastery and performance climates. These results may indicate that sport offers an environment different from the academic setting and that mainstream psychology theories need to be adapted for the sport context.