Background/Purpose : This study aimed to examining (a) the relationship between adolescents' situational motivation (intrinsic motivation [IM], identified regulation [IR], external regulation [ER], and amotivation [AM]) and physical activity (PA) levels in physical education (PE); and (b) the predictive strengths of adolescents' situational motivation to their PA levels.
Methods: A total of 259 middle school students ranging from 11 to 14 years old (M age = 12.47, SD = .97) participated in the study. Participants completed the Situational Motivation Scale (Guay, Vallerand, & Blanchard, 2000) at the end of three PE classes. Their PA levels in PE were assessed by pedometers and Actical accelerometers. The PA levels were quantified as steps per minute with pedometers; and percentages of time in sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) with accelerometers.
Analysis/Results : AM (r = -.17, p < .01) was negatively related to participants' steps per minute; IM (r = -.27, p < .01) and IR (r = -.25, p < .05) were negatively correlated to their time in sedentary activity; and IM had positive relationship with time in MVPA. Multiple regression analysis further yielded that IM was the only positive predictor for their time in MVPA (ß = .22, p < .05), and the negative predictor for the sedentary(ß = -.28, p < .01). Additionally, AM negatively predicted steps per minute.
Conclusions: IM emerged as the positive predictor for adolescents' PA participation in PE, while AM was the negative predictor of PA. Thus physical educators may identify effective strategies to increase adolescents' IM.
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