Basic Psychological Needs, Motivation, Engagement, and Disaffection in Mexican Students During Physical Education Classes

Abstract

Purpose: To test a structural equations model that analyzes the effects from satisfaction and frustration of the basic psychological needs on motivation types and the same effects on engagement and disaffection in physical education class, and to validate invariance among gender groups. Method: The participants were 1,470 fifth- and sixth-grade students from elementary schools in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Results: The model showed satisfactory data fit. The results underscore the importance of fulfilling basic psychological needs to generate both autonomous motivation and engagement, as well as to prevent amotivation and disaffection in the students, regardless of sex. Discussion/Conclusion: The findings were discussed and are deemed consistent with other studies, sustaining the idea of basic psychological needs universality as set forth by the self-determination theory.

The Impact of a Challenge-Based Learning Experience in Physical Education on Students’ Motivation and Engagement

“…The findings of the present study revealed that students’ behavioural engagement improved after the intervention, showing a medium effect size. The present study findings align with previous works that have pointed out a positive association between the way teachers interact with their students and how engaged they are in the classroom (e.g., [ 7 , 21 ]). Specifically, it has been suggested that needs-supportive teaching behaviours have a positive influence on students’ behavioural engagement [ 24 , 25 ].…”

“…Relatedness refers to feelings of belonging to the group [ 5 , 6 ]. There is strong evidence that the satisfaction of these needs in a PE context will lead to desirable outcomes, such as autonomous motivation and both behavioural and emotional engagement [ 7 ]. Although basic psychological needs satisfaction has been more thoroughly studied, highlighting the importance of their fulfilling to enhance adaptive behaviours, Ryan and Deci [ 8 ] proposed that the thwarting of basic psychological needs will lead to nonoptimal development and ill-health.…”

Effects of perceived teacher support on motivation and engagement amongst Chinese college students: Need satisfaction as the mediator

“…As expected (hypotheses 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d), the present model confirms that need satisfaction is a positive predictor of autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and class engagement whereas is a negative predictor of amotivation. These results supported SDT-theoretical postulations (Ryan and Deci, 2020 ) and previous findings in PE class (e.g., Standage et al, 2005 ; Zamarripa et al, 2021 ). These findings support the essential importance of need satisfaction to promote student motivation and engagement.…”

“…As alluded to earlier, the hypothesized paths from controlled motivation and amotivation to engagement-related outcomes tend to be inconsistent (Sánchez-Oliva et al, 2014 ). Aligned with prior studies (Behzadnia et al, 2018 ; Zamarripa et al, 2021 ; Leo et al, 2022 ), the current study found a non-significant link between controlled motivation and engagement. Notably, the bivariate correlation between these two variables was positive, but in the model, the path coefficient was non-significant.…”

“…In contrast, controlled motivation and amotivation have been found to negatively predict engagement-related variables (e.g., Sánchez-Oliva et al, 2014 ). In PE classes, however, controlled motivation has been shown to positively link to high school students' concentration (Maldonado et al, 2019 ); or it is unable to statistically predict engagement-related variables (Behzadnia et al, 2018 ; Zamarripa et al, 2021 ; Leo et al, 2022 ). Also, amotivation has been found to fail to predict desirable outcomes (e.g., emotional engagement in PE; Standage et al, 2005 ).…”