Autonomy support in Physical Education as a means of preventing students' oppositional defiance

The lack of autonomy support created by the Physical Education (PE) teacher can trigger disinterested and undisciplined behaviors in students. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, this study tested an integrated model that related autonomy supportive teaching with autonomy satisfaction and autonomy frustration, as well as oppositional defiance of PE students. 196 students (age = 13.32, SD = 1.38), 95 men and 101 women, from the first cycle of secondary school, answered the following questionnaires: Questionnaire to assess support of basic psychological needs (Spanish acronym CANPB), Basic Psychological Need Scale (BPNS) and Psychological Need Thwarting Scale (PNTS). For these questionnaires, only the items of autonomy factor were measured. Besides Oppositional Defiance was measured using a scale adapted to the PE. The results showed the importance of autonomy supportive teaching to satisfy autonomy and avoid this need frustration. Similarly, autonomy frustration is established as an influential variable on oppositional defiance. These findings raise the need to create an autonomy support climate in PE, away from a control teaching, to avoid autonomy frustration in the classroom and to prevent defiance behaviors of students.