Predicting students' basic psychological needs, motivation, and well-being in online physical education: a semester-term longitudinal study

Background and PurposeEmerging the covid-19 has raised new barriers to students' motivation and well-being. Students may not be autonomously motivated toward healthy behaviours due to the limitation and restriction in movement. Grounded in self-determination theory, in this study, we aimed to examine how students' perceptions of teachers' interpersonal behaviours (need support, need indifference, and need thwart) predict students' basic psychological need satisfaction and need frustration, motivational regulations toward physical education, and well-being over an online physical education (PE) semester during the pandemic.MethodA sample of college students participated in this semester-term longitudinal study. Data collected at the beginning (T1, N = 557, M-age = 21.20, SD = 1.56) and the end of the semester (T2, N = 262, M-age = 21.01, SD = 1.53) in the first online college PE programmes during the pandemic.ResultsThe results showed that teachers' need-supportive teaching style at T1 positively predicted students' positive affect at T2 through the mediating roles of need satisfaction and autonomous regulation at T2. Neither teachers' need-thwarting nor need-indifferent behaviours at T1 predicted students' outcomes at T2. Need satisfaction positively predicted autonomous and controlled regulations, negatively predicted amotivation, and directly predicted well-being. Need frustration positively predicted controlled regulation and amotivation as well as directly positively predicted negative affect.ConclusionFindings emphasized the important role of teachers' need-supportive teaching style on students' well-being and their experience of need satisfaction and autonomous regulation in online PE programmes and during challenging times. Practical implications and future research directions are discussed.