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Cited by 887Motivation and Self-Concept in SportsPhysical Education and PedagogyEducation, Achievement, and Giftedness

Self-determination theory applied to physical education: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Vasconcellos, Diego, Parker, Philip D., Hilland, Toni, Cinelli, Renata, Owen, Katherine B., Kapsal, Nathanial, Lee, Jane, Antczak, Devan +3 more·2020·Journal of Educational Psychology
DOI 10.1037/edu0000420
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Abstract

In this review we examine the evidence regarding self-determination theory within the school physical education context. We applied a multilevel structural equation modeling approach to meta-analyze data from a systematic review that identified 265 relevant studies. In line with theory, autonomous motivation was positively correlated with adaptive outcomes and negatively correlated with maladaptive outcomes. Introjected regulation was modestly correlated with both adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. External regulation and amotivation both showed negative relationships with adaptive outcomes, and positive relationship with maladaptive outcomes. Also supporting SDT, autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfactions were strongly correlated with autonomous student motivation, and less strongly, but still positively, correlated with introjected regulation. Weak negative correlations were found between autonomy, competence, and relatedness and external regulation. Amotivation had moderate negative correlations with needs satisfaction. Findings further revealed that teachers more greatly impact classroom experiences of autonomy and competence, whereas relatedness in physical education is associated with both peer and teacher influences.

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  • A previous meta-analysis in physical education showed that competence was the strongest predictor of self-determined motivation, followed by autonomy, whereas relatedness had only a small contribution.

    “Using meta-analytic path analysis to uncover unique variance predicted by individual needs, this study showed that competence was the strongest predictor of self-determined motivation followed by autonomy, whereas relatedness had only a small contribution.”

    From Pathways to Student Motivation: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents of Autonomous and Controlled Motivations (2022) · cites this paper as Vasconcellos et al., 2020

  • This finding aligns with meta-analyses from other contexts which consistently find relatedness to be a positive antecedent of motivation types with smaller effect sizes compared with needs for autonomy and competence.

    “This finding also aligns with meta-analyses from other contexts which consistently find relatedness to be a positive antecedent of motivation types with smaller effect sizes compared with needs for autonomy and competence (Ng et al., 2012; Van den Broeck et al., 2016; Vasconcellos et al., 2020).”

    From Pathways to Student Motivation: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents of Autonomous and Controlled Motivations (2022) · cites this paper as Vasconcellos et al., 2020

  • These results concur with Vasconcellos et al.'s (2020) findings that competence need satisfaction has the strongest association with students' autonomous motivation and amotivation in the physical education context.

    “Furthermore, these results concur with Vasconcellos et al.’s (2020) findings that competence need satisfaction has the strongest association with students’ autonomous motivation and amotivation in the physical education context.”

    From Pathways to Student Motivation: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents of Autonomous and Controlled Motivations (2022) · cites this paper as Vasconcellos et al., 2020

  • In education, autonomy is secondary to competence in predicting academic motivation.

    “This does not seem to be the case in education as both our results and those of Vasconcellos et al. (2020) show autonomy to be secondary to competence in predicting academic motivation.”

    From Pathways to Student Motivation: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents of Autonomous and Controlled Motivations (2022) · cites this paper as Vasconcellos et al., 2020

  • In physical education, competence outweighs autonomy and relatedness in predicting most motivation types.

    “Vasconcellos et al.’s (2020) meta-analytic results showing competence to outweigh autonomy and relatedness in predicting most motivation types in physical education.”

    From Pathways to Student Motivation: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents of Autonomous and Controlled Motivations (2022) · cites this paper as Vasconcellos et al., 2020

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Authors
Vasconcellos, D., Parker, P. D., Hilland, T., Cinelli, R., Owen, K. B., Kapsal, N., Lee, J., Antczak, D., Ntoumanis, N., Ryan, R. M., & Lonsdale, C.
Affiliations
  • Australian Catholic University (AU)
  • RMIT University (AU)
  • Curtin University (AU)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Educational Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2020-10
Volume
112
Issue
7
Pages
1444-1469
ISSN
  • 0022-0663 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-2176
DOI
10.1037/edu0000420
OpenAlex
W2980674488
Cited by
811
References
106
Citations by year
2026: 183 · 2025: 168 · 2024: 123 · 2023: 120 · 2022: 96 · 2021: 79 · 2020: 42
FWCI
8.38
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Educational Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (publishedVersion)
  • RMIT Research Repository (RMIT University Library) (submittedVersion)
  • VU Research Repository (Victoria University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation › Physical Education and Pedagogy
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
Keywords
self-determination theory, physical education, autonomous motivation, introjected regulation, external regulation, amotivation, need satisfaction, autonomy, competence, relatedness, teacher influence, peer influence, student motivation

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