The importance of satisfying children’s basic psychological needs in primary school physical education for PE-motivation, and its relations with fundamental motor and PE-related skills

Introduction: Children’s motivation for physical education (PE) is vital for developing physical skills1. Following Self-Determination Theory, satisfaction of the basic psychological needs autonomy, relatedness, and competence is necessary for reaching high levels of autonomous and low levels of controlled motivation2.

Objective: This study tested the ‘motivational sequence’3: whether psychological need satisfaction predicts children’s motor skills (fundamental motor skills, FMS, and PE-related skills), both directly, and indirectly via motivation. As PE-related skills more accurately reflect skills being practiced during PE, we expected the strongest relations for these skills.

Methods: 2224 primary school children (mean age = 11.8 years, 51.6% boys) of 89 schools filled out questionnaires on psychological need satisfaction and motivation during PE. FMS were assessed via the BOT-II4 upper-limb subtest and three KTK5 subtests. A set of PE-related skills was examined with validated tests. Data was analyzed via multilevel structural equation models in Mplus.

Results: The needs for competence, peer-relatedness, and teacher-relatedness predicted autonomous motivation, whereas only peer-relatedness predicted controlled motivation. Relations of psychological needs and motivation differed for FMS and PE-related skills, with PE-related skills being predicted by autonomous and controlled motivation, whereas FMS were only predicted by controlled motivation, via direct and indirect paths. Additionally, competence was directly linked to FMS and PE-related skills; and peer-relatedness and teacher-relatedness with FMS specifically.

Conclusions: Psychological need satisfaction seems vital for children’s motivation and skill development in PE. The motivational sequence was more applicable for PE-related skills than FMS, underlining the importance of choosing adequate outcome measures in examining PE-motivation.