Abstract

From the perspective of Self-Determination Theory, this study aimed to investigate the relationships between middle school students' perceived need for support from their physical education (PE) teachers and their basic psychological need (BPN) satisfaction, motivation, and enjoyment through a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The study employed a cross-sectional design, with 1,266 public middle school students from various provinces in the Eastern Anatolia region of Türkiye participating in the research. Participants completed measurement instruments to assess the study variables. Preliminary analyses involved computing descriptive statistics for the study variables and conducting Pearson correlation analyses to evaluate their interrelations based on participants' self-reported data. SEM was employed to test the hypothesized mediation effects within the structural models. Our findings indicated that, within the context of PE classes, perceived need for support from teachers positively predicted middle school students' BPN satisfaction. In the model, perceived need support directly and positively predicted students' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, while negatively predicting amotivation. Furthermore, BPN satisfaction partially mediated the relationships between perceived need for support and all three motivational regulations. Lastly, both BPN satisfaction and intrinsic motivation were found to mediate the effect of need support on enjoyment partially. The findings of the present study provide evidence for the assumption that, within the context of PE, teachers should adopt a need-supportive teaching style to create an environment where students initiate and engage in activities autonomously, experience enjoyment and satisfaction, and where amotivation is minimized or eliminated.

Keywords: basic psychological needs, enjoyment, motivation, physical education, self-determination theory, structural equation modeling