Motivational Climate, Basic Psychological Needs, and Students’ Self-Talk in Physical Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between students’ perceived motivational climate (mastery and performance), satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and self-talk (positive and negative) in physical education (PE). Six hundred six students (282 males, 315 females, 9 did not provide their gender), aged 10 to 17 years old (Mage = 13.32 ± 2.12), from seven primary schools (n = 250), five secondary schools (n = 131), and eight high schools (n = 225) in Greece voluntarily participated in this study. During a PE class, students completed online a number of valid and reliable questionnaires measuring perceived motivational climate, basic psychological needs, and self-talk. Results showed that students’ positive self-talk was positively related to mastery motivational climate, autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In contrast, negative self-talk was positively related only to performance motivational climate and negatively related to perceived mastery climate, competence, and relatedness. Separate hierarchical regression analyses revealed that perceived mastery climate and competence were the most significant predictors of students’ positive self-talk. On the contrary, perceived performance climate, competence, and autonomy were the most significant predictors of students’ negative self-talk. On the basis of the results, it seems that PE teacher-initiated motivational climate and satisfaction of basic psychological needs is strongly related to students’ self-talk.