The impact of mandatory physical fitness testing on students' intrinsic motivation and sustained participation in physical activity: a self-determination theory perspective

Introduction With physical education included in China's high school entrance examination, the high-stakes Physical Education Entrance Examination (PEEE) has altered school physical education arrangement. Previous studies mainly focus on physical fitness outcomes but lack in-depth exploration of motivational mechanisms from Self-Determination Theory (SDT). This research aims to examine how PEEE influences students' sport motivation and sustained physical activity participation by affecting their three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Methods A qualitative approach was employed. Twenty-four junior high students and eight PE teachers from four geographically diverse middle schools were selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews, focus group talks and classroom observations, and thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke's framework was conducted with NVivo 12 software. Results The PEEE increases institutional and parental attention to PE and improves short-term physical fitness and self-confidence for part of students. However, rigid exam-oriented courses limit students' autonomous choices; individual physical gaps result in polarized feelings of competence; score competition erodes supportive interpersonal relatedness. Most students form extrinsic exercise motivation instead of internalized interest, and teachers face persistent conflicts between educational ideals and exam assessment pressure. Discussion Although the PEEE partially achieves fitness promotion goals, it distorts three core psychological needs proposed by SDT and blocks the internalization of sport motivation. To foster lifelong exercise behavior, future PE reform should replace unified high-stakes testing with diversified process evaluation and adopt autonomy-supportive teaching strategies.