Verbal abuse is considered part of the broader concept of psychological abuse or maltreatment against children (Glaser, 2002). Behaviors that are counted within the context of verbal abuse include ridiculing and teasing, name calling, or yelling at the child (Brendgen, Wanner, Vitaro, 2006). Research has demonstrated that children's experience of verbal abuse by others is related to their developmental adjustment. In terms of the Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2001), the behavior of socializing agents, such as peers, in a given situation can influence a child's general self-schema, and in turn, shape their behavioral regulation in a specific activity. However, few researchers in PE have examined this assumption. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of verbal abuse by peers in physical education class on children's basic need satisfactions (BNS) (i.e., competence, relatedness, and autonomy) and self-regulated motivation (intrinsic, identified, introjected, external, and amotivation) in physical education. Participants were 141 African American children (70 males and 71 females, age range= 9 - 12 years, mean age=10.5 years). Verbal abuse by peers in PE was measured using the Verbal Abuse Survey (Eliasson et al., 2005). BNS in PE was assessed using the Basic Need Satisfaction Scale (Deci, 2001). Self-regulation was assessed using the Self-Regulation Questionnaire (Goudas, 1994). Three hierarchical regression analyses predicting needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy were conducted. Specifically, gender and grade were entered first, followed by verbal abuse score in a separate block. Results show that the models of gender, grade, and verbal abuse explained 8%, 12%, and 7% of the variance in the needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy, respectively. Particularly, verbal abuse was the strongest negative predictor (DR2=.08, â= -.27, P<.00) of the need of relatedness. For predicting self-regulated motivation, gender, grade, BNS, and verbal abuse explained over 20% of the variance. Even when controlling BNS, verbal abuse was a significant negative predictor (DR2=. 04, â= -.18, P<.05) of intrinsic motivation and positive predictor (DR2=.04, â= .19, P<.05) of amotivation. Our findings support the assumption that verbal abuse by peers in physical education can jeopardize children's need satisfaction with seeking and developing secure and connected relationships with others, and consequently, decrease the amount of intrinsic motivation in physical education. It is important to teach children skills for developing and maintaining positive relationships with peers in physical education classes. Physical educators must recognize the potential consequences of negative peer behavior on students' learning behavior. Keyword(s): elementary issues, physical education PK-12, violence/prevention