Modeling indicators and outcomes of students’ perceived teacher relatedness support in high school physical education

Research based in self-determination theory has demonstrated the importance of social agents for motivational processes in school-based physical education (PE). To focus more closely on the relational processes that underpin students’ motivation in PE, there have been calls for researchers to explore the specific teacher behaviors that facilitate students’ relatedness in PE. Our aim was to test a higher-order measurement model comprising distinct relatedness-supportive teacher behaviors, and to explore the ways in which students’ perceptions about their teacher directly and/or indirectly predict relatedness need satisfaction and motivation in PE. To test our higher-order model (Study 1), 656 high-school PE students reported the extent to which their teachers engaged in relatedness-supportive behaviors. In Study 2, 570 high-school PE students reported their motivational regulations for PE, as well as the extent to which their teacher engaged in relatedness-supportive behaviors, and satisfied their need for relatedness. We found support for the higher-order relatedness support model, and observed predictive pathways that were consistent with theory. Students reported satisfaction of their need for relatedness when they felt relatedness support from their teachers (b 1⁄4 0.52, p < 0.001) and relatedness need satisfaction was in turn positively related to intrinsic (b 1⁄4 0.51, p < 0.001), identified (b 1⁄4 0.49, p < 0.001), and introjected (b 1⁄4 0.25, p < 0.001) regulations for PE. These findings demonstrate the importance of relatedness-supportive teaching in PE, and implications of these data are discussed. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. School-based physical education (PE) provides widespread, formalized access to regular physical activity, and thus, it is no surprise that researchers have focused attention toward understanding the social factors that contribute to students’ motivation and engagement within this setting. In seeking to understand the ways in which students’ in-class perceptions are shaped, much attention has been focused around the role that teachers play in determining the motivational dynamics within the classroom (see Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Koka & Hagger, 2010). Similar to more traditional classroom settings, the interpersonal style of the PE teacher has been shown to influence student motivation and engagement in school PE (e.g., Cox, Duncheon, & McDavid, 2009; Taylor & Ntoumanis, 2007). Alongside pertinent in-class outcomes, studies in this area have also shown that motivational experiences in PE may also align with greater leisure-time physical activity (Chatzisarantis & Hagger, 2009; Jackson, Whipp, Chua, Dimmock, & Hagger, 2013). A number of PE-based studies have explored the role of the teacher in shaping students’ motivation through the lens of selfdetermination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985), a theoretical framework concerned with the individual and social factors that elicit different types of motivation. According to SDT, one’s motives to pursue an activity may fall along a self-determination continuum, ranging from highly autonomous (or self-determined) to highly controlled behavioral regulations. Self-determined forms of motivation are characterized by participation in an activity for fun, interest, enjoyment (i.e., intrinsic motivation), in light of its consistency with one’s values/identity (i.e., integrated regulation), and/or valued outcomes that it provides (i.e., identified regulation). These types of motivation are theorized to nourish persistence, engagement, and psychological well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Within SDT, needs for autonomy (i.e., a sense of choice and * Corresponding author. School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Perth, WA 6009, Australia. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C. Sparks), james. [email protected] (J. Dimmock), [email protected] (C. Lonsdale), ben. [email protected] (B. Jackson). 1 This author’s contribution to this work was partly supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council (DE120101006).