Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs as Predictors of Motivation towards Physical Education in Primary Education: Influence of Gender and Physical Self-Concept

The aims of this study are as follows: (a) to determine the level of physical self-concept, satisfaction with basic psychological needs (BNP), and motivation towards physical education (PE) among primary education school students; (b) to analyze the correlations between the different variables; to (c) identify gender differences in the studied variables; and (d) to examine the capacity of BPN, physical self-concept, and gender as predictors of different types of motivation towards PE. The sample comprises 474 primary school students (average age = 10.58; SD = 0.626) from four educational centers in A Coruña, Spain. A multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted to determine whether independent variables of BPN, gender, and physical self-concept can predict different types of motivation towards PE. The results show that satisfaction with the BPN of autonomy is significantly lower than the other two variables. Moreover, there is a positive and significant correlation between physical self-concept and satisfaction with BPN, as well as with intrinsic, identified, and introjected motivations. Boys outperform girls in physical self-concept, satisfaction with competence and socialization BPNs, and introjected, external, and amotivation motivations. The main conclusion is that BPNs solely forecast the most self-determined motivations (intrinsic and identified), have a restricted influence on introjected motivations, and do not predict external regulation or amotivation. Neither gender nor physical self-concept significantly contributes to predicting any motivation towards PE at these ages.