Social goals and basic psychological needs in high school physical education.

Abstract

Despite the social nature of physical education classrooms, few researchers have systematically investigated students’ social goal pursuits. Instead, investigations have typically focused on competence-related achievement goals. Grounded in Allen’s social motivation theory, the purpose of this study was to use a longitudinal framework to investigate reciprocal relationships between students’ social goals and basic psychological need satisfaction in high school physical education. A cohort of high school students (N 287) were tracked from the beginning of 9th grade to the end of 10th grade. Students reported their social affiliation goals and feelings of relatedness and social recognition goals and feelings of competence at these 2 time points. Crosssectional and longitudinal correlations supported relationships between (a) social affiliation goals and feelings of relatedness; and (b) social recognition goals and feelings of competence at these 2 time points. Intraindividual change associations between these same variables were supported by fixed effects regression models. Finally, temporal relationships were partially supported by cross-lagged path models, supporting reciprocal relationships between social recognition goals and feelings of competence. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of findings are highlighted.