Behavioral regulations: what is physical education role in students’ physically active lifestyle?

Physical education can play a vital role in students’ psychomotor, cognitive and emotional development, which can influence young people to adopt physically active adult lifestyles that can in turn improve public health. Lifelong participation in fitness activities might not be achieved unless physical education teachers create an appropriate environment that motivates students to engage in physical education. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of behavioral regulation to student intention for physical activity outside of university. The authors argue autonomy-supportive versus controlling situations could positively predict the intention of students to be physically active outside of university. The subjects were 320 Iranian male students who participated in 16 regular physical education classes. All subjects completed perceived locus of causality scale and intention to be physically active questionnaires. The results of regression analysis showed that more self-determined forms of behavioral regulation foster more autonomous forms of intention. These results were not found for amotivation. The results further indicated that students’ intentions for physical activity outside of university increase with more self-determined forms of behavioral regulation. With respect to intention for physical activity after university, these results highlight the importance of taking into account the fostering of more self-determined forms of behavioral regulation.

behavioral regulations ,

physical education ,

regular physical activity ,

self-determination theory ,