Investigating the Relationships Between Perceived Mattering, Role Stress, and Psychological Need Satisfaction in Physical Education Teachers

Abstract

Purpose: Despite being linked with motivationally supportive instruction, little research has investigated antecedents to physical educators’ psychological need satisfaction. This study examined relationships between physical educators’ perceived mattering, role stress, and psychological need satisfaction. Method: The participants included 472 in-service physical educators (232 males and 240 females) from the eastern United States who completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate a conceptual model detailing the relationships among study variables. Results: The conceptual model was a good fit for the data, χ2(358) = 657.16, p < .001, root mean square error of approximation = .042 (90% confidence interval [.037, .047], p = .996), standardized root mean residual = .051, nonnormalized fit index = .949, comparative fit index = .955. Generally, perceived mattering influenced role ambiguity and relatedness satisfaction. Role overload and role ambiguity are negatively associated with competence satisfaction, and role conflict is negatively associated with autonomy satisfaction. Discussion: The findings indicate that elevating physical education teachers’ perceived mattering may reduce role stress and increase psychological need satisfaction.

Cross-validation and modifications of the perceived mattering questionnaire—Physical education in Chinese inservice physical education teachers

“…It is important to point out that all four dimensions are not physical but psychological tendencies (Marshall, 2001). A number of scholars (Richards et al, 2017(Richards et al, , 2018aGaudreault et al, 2018;Washburn et al, 2020) agreed that attention means that a person or subject is of interest to other people or groups. Importance is related to the concept that others value the contributions of a person or subject to the group.…”

“…"PE matters" refers to PE teachers' perceived mattering concerning PE as the subject matter in schools. PE teacher matter focuses on PE teachers' perceptions that they matter to people in schools (Richards et al, 2017;Washburn et al, 2020). No negatively worded items were used.…”

“…Because of the marginalization of PE in educational settings, the perceived mattering PE teachers hold regarding their jobs and roles in the school has become an important strand of research in recent years (Gaudreault et al, 2018 ; Richards et al, 2019 ). Previous research on the topic has denoted that PE teachers experienced the effects of marginalization in their daily teaching (Washburn et al, 2020 ), resulting in negative feelings associated with marginality causing stress, burnout, and early career retention (Whipp et al, 2007 ; O'Halloran and Moynihan, 2020 ). On the other hand, due to the well-known potential contribution of PE to help students adopt a healthy lifestyle, many countries such as Austria (Dollman et al, 2006 ), China (Chinese Department of Sports Hygiene Health Education, 2014 ), Finland (Mäkelä et al, 2014 ), Scotland (Gray et al, 2012 ), South Africa (Burnett, 2021 ), and the US (McKenzie, 2019 ) have paid more attention to quality PE (QPE) in conjunction with health education in schools.…”

“…Specifically, “PE matters” refers to PE teachers' perceived mattering concerning PE as the subject matter in schools. PE teacher matter focuses on PE teachers' perceptions on their matter to people in schools (Richards et al, 2017 ; Washburn et al, 2020 ). The items were set to a 4-point Likert scale with 1 representing “not at all,” 2 representing a little, 3 representing “somewhat,” and 4 representing “a lot.” “PE matters” refers to PE teachers' perceived mattering concerning PE as the subject matter in schools.…”

Physical education teacher motivation: A conceptual review and reconceptualisation

“…The teachers who chose to stay in teaching physical education indicated strong satisfaction in autonomy, competence and relatedness needs (Whipp & Salin, 2018). In an environment where the role of the physical education teacher is vague or in conflict with their professional values or where physical education is perceived as not mattering, the three needs will not be satisfied, which will in turn lead to low teacher motivation (Washburn et al, 2020).…”