Achievement Goals and Perceived Motivational Climate in Physical Education

Background/Purpose Achievement goals (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals) and perceived motivational climates (mastery and performance climates) are two important constructs and influence the cognitions, emotions, persistency/effort, and behaviors of individuals in physical activity contexts. The purposes of this study was to examine how achievement goals and perceived motivational climates might affect students' persistence toward physical education.

Method A total of 272 middle school students served as participants in this study. All participants ranged in age from 11 to 15 years (M = 13.03, SD = .84) and were enrolled in Grades 6 to 8. Participants' achievement goals, perceived climates, and persistence were all assessed by Achievement Goal Questionnaire-Physical Education.

Analysis/Results A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the joint influence of achievement goals and perceived classroom climates on students' reported persistence toward physical activities. The orders for the entries of the predictor variables were based on previous research. The perceived motivational climates were entered first, followed by the achievement goals. Results revealed that only mastery climate significantly predicted their persistence in the first step. Mastery-approach and performance-approach goals were also significantly positive predictors when entered into the second step of this model.

Conclusions A major goal of physical education is to motivate student participation in physical activity on a regular basis. The results of this study may increase our knowledge of what and how to motivate students to participate in physical activities, and help physical educators develop students' positive motivation toward physical education class.