An Amotivation Model in Physical Education

Abstract

Amotivation refers to a state in which individuals cannot perceive a relationship between their behavior and that behavior’s subsequent outcome. With the belief that considering amotivation as a multidimensional construct could reflect the complexity of motivational deficits in physical education, we developed this study to validate an amotivation model. In study 1 (N = 156), an exploratory factor analysis provided preliminary support with the model comprising four dimensions: ability beliefs, effort beliefs, values placed on the task, and characteristics of the task. In study 2 (N = 499), the four-dimensional model was further corroborated through a confirmatory factor analysis. Its construct validity and predictive validity were also confirmed. Overall, the findings lend evidence to the conceptual validation of the four-dimensional structure of amotivation. Lack of motivation in physical education may result from different reasons. The multifaceted nature of amotivation in physical education must be considered and instructionally addressed during teaching and learning.

Fitting Multidimensional Amotivation into the Self-Determination Theory Nomological Network: Application in School Physical Education

“…Given that the construct of multidimensional amotivation is a relatively new construct, the studies that have examined its' correlates, antecedents, and consequences in the PE domain have been limited (Shen et al, 2010a(Shen et al, , 2010b. The need exists to establish the nature of the relationships between the types of multidimensional amotivation, such as ability, effort, value of the task, and task characteristics, with the constructs theorized to be associated within the nomological network defined by SDT and the HMIEM.…”

“…However, need satisfaction was not assessed. In line with suggestions by Shen (2010b), more aspects of the construct validity of AI-PE scores should be investigated, using more diverse samples and other variables acting either as outcomes or determining factors of amotivation (i.e., investigating the construct's nomological network; Cronbach & Meehl, 1955).…”

“…This is because problems of reduced motivation for PE participation may begin to emerge in the fifth and sixth grades, given that a major decline in perceived ability has been argued to occur at the age of 10, owing to cognitive maturity of children (Nicholls, 1989). Following suggestions by Shen et al (2010b), further validation should be conducted on the AI-PE scores in school grade levels and PE curricula different to the ones used in these studies to expand the validity evidence base of the generalizability of the AI-PE scores. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which AI-PE scores may be situated in theoretically appropriate ways in the SDT nomological network, based on responses provided by elementary, middle-school, and high-school students in relation to their participation in PE.…”

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The present study investigated the nomological validity of the Amotivation Inventory-Physical Education (Shen, Wingert, Li, Sun, & Rukavina, 2010b) scores by examining the associations of ability, effort, value, and task characteristics amotivation beliefs with self-determination theory variables. Data were collected from 401 fifth-and sixth-grade students, 416 middle-school students, and 401 high-school students.

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Depressive Expression and Anti-Depressive Protection in Adolescence: Stress, Positive Affect, Motivation and Self-Efficacy

“…Adolescent anxiety and distraction in the classroom is negatively associated with intrinsic motivation but positively associated with amotivation (Ratelle, Guay, Vallerand, Larose, & Senécal, 2007). Amotivation in the classroom refers to a state in which individuals cannot perceive a relationship between their behavior and that behavior's subsequent outcome (Shen, Winqert, Li, Sun, & Rukavina, 2010). Furthermore, high-school pupils' amotivation has been shown to be multidimensional in the sense that there are four main reasons for amotivation: pupils' ability beliefs, pupils' effort beliefs, what value is placed on academic tasks?…”