Motivation for physical activity during PE classes at different stages of education: Polish adaptation and psychometric verification of Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire 2

<ns3:p>Problem statement: Motivation to participate in Physical Education classes (PE) is one of the key factors determin-ing a young person’s active lifestyle later on in their life. The aim of the study was a Polish adaptation and psycho-metric verification of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire 2 developed by Markland and Tobin tomeasure motivation for participating in physical exercise, but also to adapt it to measure motivation for PE classes.The level of motivation to take part in PE was checked for sex, stage of education, and participation in profession-al sports activity.Approach: The sample consisted of 1255 primary, middle and secondary school students (56% girls,Mage=14.762.43). EFA, CFA, correlation and reliability analysis, as well as comparisons across groups were per-formed.Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the structure of the BREQ 2-WF is consistentwith the assumptions of Self-Determination Theory, and the Polish version of the tool obtained a reliability whichpermits its application to research and diagnostic purposes. It was also found that while the stage of educationincreased, the level of autonomous forms of motivation to exercise during PE classes decreased, with the level ofamotivation increasing at the same time. The boys and students who participated in professional sports exhibitedhigher levels of autonomous motivation than the girls and physically inactive students.Conclusions: The results indicate the need to revise PE teaching methods, in particular at higher education stages.It is worth considering the promotion of the tool among PE teachers to facilitate students’ motivation for physicalactivity.</ns3:p>