This study investigated the associations between students' perceived motivational and demotivational teaching styles and motivation in physical education (PE), with basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) examined as mediators within the Self-Determination Theory framework. A total of 412 secondary school students (aged 13–16 years) completed a cross-sectional survey using validated instruments assessing teaching-style perceptions, psychological need satisfaction, and overall motivational orientation in PE. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapped mediation analyses (5,000 resamples) were conducted to test the hypothesized direct and indirect relationships. Results indicated that perceived motivational teaching style was positively associated with autonomy, competence, and relatedness, whereas demotivational teaching style was negatively associated with all three needs. Moreover, the three psychological needs statistically mediated the links between teaching styles and overall motivational orientation, with partial mediation observed for both supportive and controlling instructional behaviors. Among the mediators, relatedness showed the strongest indirect link for motivational teaching style, while autonomy appeared most sensitive to demotivational teaching style. These findings suggest that psychological needs may serve as important statistical pathways linking students' perceptions of teacher behavior with motivation in PE. The study contributes to SDT-based PE literature by simultaneously examining supportive and controlling instructional styles within an associational framework. Practical implications highlight the importance of teacher training programs that promote autonomy-supportive strategies and minimize controlling behaviors to support more engaging, need-supportive, and motivationally adaptive PE environments.
Li et al. (Tue,) studied this question.