Physical activity rates are declining and many adolescents lack adequate motivation for active participation in physical education (NASPE, 2006). The psychological climate refers to goals and values perceived to be endorsed in achievement settings and may be integral to understanding motivation. Recent achievement goal climate approaches have examined trichotomous goals that include mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals (Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996). Social approval goals have also been identified as relevant to motivation (Papaioannou, Tsigilis, Kosmidou, & Milosis, 2007). Lastly, researchers have examined the influence of a caring climate in relation to engagement in physical activity (Newton, Watson, Gano-Overway, Fry, Kim, & Magyar, 2007). Self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation have shown to be strong predictors of physical activity (Feltz & Magyar, 2006; Moritz, Feltz, Fahrbach, & Mack, 2000). Thus, to further understand motivation in physical education settings the purpose of this study was to examine relationships between the psychological climate (i.e., mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, social-approval, caring climate), self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and physical activity (pedometer step-counts).
Method
This was an institutional review board approved study that utilized a prospective study design. Participants included 275 mostly Caucasian students (138 males, 137 females; Mage = 13.32) enrolled in six total physical education classes at two junior high schools. Participants completed a multi-section inventory, consisting of the Perceptions of Teachers' Emphasis on Goals Questionnaire (PTEGQ, Papaioannou et al., 2007), the Caring Climate Scale (CCS, Newton et al., 2007), a 6-item questionnaire measuring self-efficacy (Gao, Xiang, Lee, & Harrison, in press; Rodgers & Brawley, 1996), the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI, Ryan, 1982), and pedometers (Yamax SW-200) were utilized to assess physical activity. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from .74 to .95 indicating the measures were internally reliable.
Analysis/Results
Multiple regression analyses revealed that a performance-avoidance climate was negatively related to self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation, (ƒ" = -.16 and -.18, respectively). Perceptions of a social-approval climate were positively associated with physical activity (ƒ" = .18) and perceptions of a caring climate were negatively related with physical activity (ƒ" = -.18). Self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation were both positively related with physical activity (ƒ" = .32 and .38, respectively).
Conclusions
Performance-approach climate does not promote high levels of self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation and should be avoided to promote meaningful physical activity. Overall, the findings suggest that high levels of self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation optimize physical activity.
See more of: Research Consortium