Perceived Motivational Climate and Mental Well-Being Among Secondary School Students in Physical Education

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the perceived motivational climate and mental well-being of secondary school students in physical education (PE). The participants were 230 secondary school students (127 male, 103 female) aged 15 to 17 years old (2.03 ± 0.80) in Kuching, Sarawak. The Teacher-Initiated Motivational Climate in Physical Education Questionnaire (TIMCPEQ; Papaioannou in Res Q Exerc Sport 69:267–275, [25]) and Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS; Tennant et al. in Health Qual Life Outcomes 5(63):1–13, [26]) were used. Descriptive analysis, independent-samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, and two-way ANOVA were utilized. The independent-samples t-test revealed significant difference between gender for teacher-initiated performance orientation, p = 0.009. The one-way ANOVA revealed no significant difference between age groups and ethnicities for all variables in TIMCPEQ and WEMWBS with p > 0.05. The between subject’s ANOVA between gender and age revealed the main effect of gender was significant for teacher-initiated performance orientation, F = 5.98, p = 0.015. The between subject’s ANOVA between gender and ethnicity revealed the main effect of gender was significant for eudaimonic, F = 4.12, p = 0.043, and the main effect of age was significant for teacher-initiated mastery orientation, F = 3.26, p = 0.04. The findings suggest schools create mastery motivational climate intervention that can facilitate the mental well-being of students in and beyond PE.