Structural Relationship between Psychological Needs and Sport Adherence for Students Participating in Physical Education Class

Abstract

The satisfaction of basic psychological needs leads students to engage in a sport modality on their own initiative. In the Spanish public educational system, mixed and heterogeneous, the gender and sport experience of students influence the teaching and motivation of invasion sports. This study investigated whether students' gender and sport experience, and method influence the psychological variables (basic psychological needs and sport adherence) when teaching school soccer and basketball. Furthermore, correlations were calculated between these psychological variables. The study involved 165 fifth and sixth grade students (age, 11.27 ± 0.68 years old) from several Spanish state schools in the same autonomous community. A non-random convenience sample was used. The needs for autonomy, perceived competence and social relationships were measured using the Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Exercise Scale. Sport adherence was measured using the Measure of Intentionality to be Physically Active. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Cronbach's alpha were used to analyze the psychometric properties of the scales. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed with the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests. There were significant differences in the needs for autonomy and perceived competence according to the students’ gender (boys > girls). Attending to sport adherence, there were also significant differences according to the students’ gender (boys > girls) and sport experience (experienced students > inexperienced students). Likewise, a regression analysis (structural equation model) revealed that the autonomy need showed low association with sport adherence. Higher perceived competence (β = 0.52) and social relationships (β = 0.36) were associated with greater adherence to sport (R2 = 0.65). Increased sport adherence will have health benefits.

Structural Relationship between Psychological Needs and Sport Adherence for Students Participating in Physical Education Class

“…The participating boys reported greater autonomy in the invasion sports of soccer and basketball. In contrast to this study, García-Ceberino, et al [1] reported that gender influenced perceived competence and students' intentionality to continue playing soccer in and out-of-school, in favor of boys. Gender-based analysis in another study [39] reported higher BPNs satisfaction and higher intention to be physically active associated with boys (PE students).…”

“…Experienced students reported greater sport adherence in the invasion sports of soccer and basketball; however, there were no significant differences in three BPNs. A previous study [1] reported that the initial experience influenced the students' interest in continuing to play soccer in and out-of-school, but it did not influence their perceived competence. On the contrary, Heredia-León, et al [42] reported that students who participated in extracurricular activities (i.e., out-of-school) were associated with self-determined profiles.…”

“…Information on the schools and class-groups participating in this study are shown in Table 1, clarifying the professional and the teaching model used with each school and class-group. 1 A professional from outside the school taught the specific soccer programs. 2 A professional outside the school taught the specific basketball programs.…”

“…School physical education (PE) for the initiation of invasion sports is a privileged scenario for the promotion of physical activity (PA) [1]. The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) [2] is a theory of human motivation and personality that emphasizes the importance of the individual's ability to self-regulate his or her behavior, that is, it understands that individuals are responsible for their actions and relates self-determined behaviors to the propensity to engage in a wide range of human activities [2].…”

“…Therefore, the motivation generated by the sport practice is one of the reasons that lead students or players to get involved in, or on the contrary, to abandon the sport practice [6]. In PE, García-Ceberino, et al [1] report that the more competent the students feel in school soccer, the greater the degree of adherence shown by them. In turn, Lamoneda and Huertas-Delgado [7] report that students perceive a lower satisfaction of the BPNs as they advance in level and educational stage, producing a decrease in sport practice.…”