Background/Purpose: Student motivation energizes, directs and sustains students' achievement behaviors (Ryan & Deci, 2007). Positive student motivation in physical education (PE) could prompt students to be physically active and fit. The expectancy-value model provides an appropriate framework for understanding students' beliefs, values, and related achievement outcomes (Fredick & Eccles, 2002). This study, therefore, attempted to evaluate the influences of the motivational constructs from the expectancy-value model (belief about ability, expectancies for success, importance, interest, and usefulness) on elementary school students' physical activity (PA) and aerobic fitness measured by the FITNESSGRAM® Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER; 2007).
Method: Participants were 118 (72 girls and 46 boys; M age = 10.7) fifth grade students from two suburban elementary schools. They completed previously validated questionnaires assessing their expectancy-value constructs, task values, and PA. The PACER test was used to evaluate students' aerobic fitness.
Analysis/Results: Correlation analyses revealed there were positive relationships among the variables. Two regression analyses indicated that importance and belief about ability (both β = .21, both p < .05) were positive predictors of PA (R2 = 12.6 %). Further, belief about ability (β = .44, p < .01) was the only positive predictor of students' aerobic fitness (R2 = 19.5%).
Conclusions: These findings provided empirical evidence about relationships among students' expectancy-value constructs, PA, and aerobic fitness. The results highlighted the importance of focusing on the attainment value and increasing students' success rate in practice and a sense of success in PE classes in order to foster students' PA and aerobic fitness.
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