Predicting Satisfaction in Physical Education Classes: A Study Based on Self-Determination Theory

This study aimed to analyse the relationships between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, motivation and satisfaction in physical education classes, as well as to examine these relationships by gender. Eight hundred and fifty-four secondary school students (405 boys and 453 girls, aged 15 to 21 years) participated in this study by responding to questionnaires designed to measure the aforementioned variables. Two linear regression analyses were carried out alongside independent samples t-tests. Linear regression analyses showed that the satisfaction of autonomy, competition and relatedness needs, self-determined forms of motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation, integrated regulation and identified regulation) and one of the non-self-determined motivations (i.e., introjected regulation) positively predicted satisfaction in physical education, whereas amotivation negatively predicted satisfaction. Independent samples t-tests revealed that the girls scored lower than the boys on all variables except for external regulation, for which they showed a higher average score than the boys. Furthermore, the differential analysis between genders showed that satisfaction of the need for competition did not predict satisfaction in physical education in the case of the girls. Differences were also found in the prediction weights of motivational regulation for the group of boys. The results of this study allow a better understanding about the motivational process that explains students’ satisfaction within their physical education classes. They also emphasise the significant roles that satisfaction of the need for relatedness and intrinsic motivation play in increasing students’ satisfaction in physical education.