Motivational Variables to Predict Autotelic Experience and Enjoyment of Students. Analysis in Function of Environment and Sports Practice

Marta Leyton-Román, Marta Guíu-Carrera, Asier Coto-Cañamero and Ruth Jiménez-Castuera
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Marta Leyton-Román: Sports Studies Center Rey Juan Carlos University, 28032 Madrid, Spain
Marta Guíu-Carrera: Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences. University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Asier Coto-Cañamero: Didactic and Behavioural Analysis in Sport Research Group, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, 10003 Cáceres, Spain
Ruth Jiménez-Castuera: Didactic and Behavioural Analysis in Sport Research Group, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, 10003 Cáceres, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: The aim of this study was to find out how self-determined motivation, Basic Psychological Needs (BPN) and the perception of support influence autonomy-predicted autotelic experience and enjoyment, and to analyse the differences depending on the geographical location of the centre and whether they lead to the practice of physical activity, extracurricular or not, of 271 learners in physical education from 10 to 12 years ( M = 10.94, SD = 0.73). The theoretical framework used was the Self-Determination Theory. The results showed that more self-determined motivation, the perception of support for autonomy and BPN positively predict both autotelic experience and enjoyment. Moreover, learners from urban areas have higher values in less self-determined forms of motivation and lower levels of perceived support for autonomy and BPN than learners from rural areas. Furthermore, students who carry out extracurricular physical activity had higher values in all variables compared to those who did not. It is essential to promote sport to students with more self-determined forms of motivation through the satisfaction of BPN, especially in students who do not do extracurricular physical activity and students in urban areas.

Keywords: physical education; self-determined motivation; basic psychological needs; autotelic experience; enjoyment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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