Bicycling to school during the transition from childhood into adolescence : a six-year longitudinal study

Little is known about bicycling to school as children age. At baseline (2002) self-report data from 1070 children were gathered (51.9% boys; mean age: 10 years). The measurements were repeated in 2003 (n = 1039), 2004 (n = 907), 2005 (n = 549) and 2008 (n = 515). The rates of children bicycling to school significantly varied across time points from 46% at the age of ten, 69% at the age of 11, 83% at the age of 12, 70% at the age of 13 toward 78% at the age of 16. Starting from the age of 11, the average duration of time spent bicycling to school significantly increased over time. According to multilevel regression analyses 13.6% of the variance in rates of bicycling to school was situated at the school level. 39.6% at the pupil level and 46.7% at the measurement level. The differences in rates and durations across time points were independent from gender, BMI, SES and having siblings. Pupils engaging in bicycling to school at younger ages had a higher change of engaging in bicycling to school at 16 years old (ORs: 2.69-7.61; ICC bicycling rates: 0.46, ICC bicycling durations: 0.82). This finding emphasizes the need for promoting bicycling to school at young age

Why do sport coaches adopt a controlling coaching style? The role of an evaluative context and psychological need frustration

In this study, involving 585 youth sport coaches (Mage = 35.76), we investigated whether coaches who perceive their environment to be highly evaluative would report acting in a more controlling or pressuring way. In a subsample (N = 211, Mage = 38.14), we examined the explanatory role of coaches’ experiences of psychological need frustration in this relation. We also considered whether years of coaching experience would serve as a buffer against the adverse effects of an evaluative context. In line with the tenets of Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), results of structural equation modeling indicated that an evaluative context related to the use of a more controlling coaching style, with experiences of need frustration accounting for this relation. Coaching experience did not play any moderating role, suggesting that even more experienced coaches are vulnerable to the harmful correlates of an evaluative sport context

Developmental change in motor competence : a latent growth curve analysis

Background: The development of childhood motor competence demonstrates a high degree of inter-individual variation. Some children's competence levels increase whilst others' competence levels remain unchanged or even decrease over time. However, few studies have examined this developmental change in motor competence across childhood and little is known on influencing factors. Aim: Using latent growth curve modeling (LGCM), the present longitudinal study aimed to investigate children's change in motor competence across a 2-year timespan and to examine the potential influence of baseline weight status and physical fitness on their trajectory of change in motor competence. Methods: 558 children (52.5% boys) aged between 6 and 9 years participated in this study. Baseline measurements included weight status, motor competence (i.e., Korperkoordinationstest fur Kinder; KTK) and physical fitness (i.e., sit and reach, standing long jump and the 20 m shuttle run test). Motor competence assessment took place three times across a 2-year timespan. LGCM was conducted to examine change in motor competence over time. Results: The analyses showed a positive linear change in motor competence across 2 years (beta = 28.48, p < 0.001) with significant variability in children's individual trajectories (p < 0.001). Girls made less progress than boys (beta = -2.12, p = 0.01). Children who were older at baseline demonstrated less change in motor competence (beta = -0.33, p < 0.001). Weight status at baseline was negatively associated with change in motor competence over time (beta = -1.418, p = 0.002). None of the physical fitness components, measured at baseline, were significantly associated with change in motor competence over time. Conclusion and Implications: This longitudinal study reveals that weight status significantly influences children's motor competence trajectories whilst physical fitness demonstrated no significant influence on motor competence trajectories. Future studies should further explore children's differential trajectories over time and potential factors influencing that change

Relationship of physical activity and dietary habits with body mass index in the transition from childhood to adolescence : a 4-year longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between several physical activity (PA) and dietary behaviours and BMI Z-score and to investigate the relationship between changes in these variables and in the BMI Z-score over a 4-year period from childhood to adolescence. DESIGN: Longitudinal study in which children were included in the fifth grade and measured for four consecutive years. Dietary and PA behaviours as well as height and weight were measured by means of self-reported validated questionnaires. SETTING: Fifty-nine Flemish elementary schools. SUBJECTS: The baseline sample consisted of 51·9 % boys and the mean age was 10 (sd 0·4) years. During the first measurement year (2002), data on 1670 fifth graders were gathered. These measurements were repeated after 1 (n 1557), 2 (n 1151) and 3 (n 807) years. RESULTS: Significant inverse relationships with BMI Z-score were observed for frequency of breakfast consumption (β = -0·033, se = 0·012) and frequency of sports participation (β = -0·011, se = 0·004) across four time points. Significant inverse relationships between changes in BMI Z-score and changes in frequency of sports participation (β = -0·011, se = 0·006) and hours of physical education (PE; β = -0·052, se = 0·023) were observed, meaning that decreases in sports participation and hours spent in PE were associated with increases in BMI Z-score. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides an important insight into different dietary and PA behaviours related to (changes in) BMI Z-score during the transition from childhood to adolescence

Does the level of motivation of physical education teachers matter in terms of job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion? A person-centered examination based on self-determination theory

Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), prior research has demonstrated that physical education (PE) teachers may have different reasons to engage in teaching. Although some person-centered studies have identified varied motivational profiles in PE teachers, none of these studies have included the three forms of motivation (i.e., autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and amotivation). This study aims to identify teachers’ motivational profiles, using the three forms of motivation. Moreover, differences between the obtained profiles in terms of job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion were examined. A sample of 107 primary school PE teachers participated. Four distinct motivational profiles were identified: “relatively amotivated,” “somewhat motivated,” “autonomous-controlled motivated,” and “relatively autonomously motivated.” Results showed that the predominantly autonomously motivated PE teachers reported the most adaptive pattern of outcomes. Although PE teachers from the “relatively autonomously motivated” group did not differ in terms of job satisfaction when compared to those in the “autonomous-controlled motivated” group, the former displayed lower values of emotional exhaustion. These findings support SDT in that more motivation is not necessarily better if this additional motivation comes from controlled reasons. These results could raise awareness among school stakeholders about the importance of increasing PE teachers’ autonomous motivation

Body dissatisfaction, perceptions of competence and lesson content in physical education

BACKGROUND Significant proportions of young people experience body dissatisfaction, which has implications for psychological and physical well-being. Little is known about how factors within physical education support or hinder the development of body satisfaction. Lesson content and perceived competence may be important variables for the experience of body dissatisfaction, yet these have been underexplored in physical education. The aim of this cross sectional study is to identify the relationships between body dissatisfaction and perceptions of competence, and to explore whether body dissatisfaction depends on lesson content. METHODS A paper and pencil questionnaire was completed by 446 (210 males, 236 females) 13-14-year-old pupils from 37 physical education classes. The questionnaire assessed body dissatisfaction and perceived competence in physical education. Lesson content was also recorded. Twenty-nine of the classes were engaged in team activities, for example, ball games. Eight classes were engaged in individual activities, for example, fitness. RESULTS Multilevel analysis identified a significant negative association between body dissatisfaction and perceptions of competence in physical education. Lesson content did not significantly predict variations in body dissatisfaction scores. CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that teachers should focus on enhancing pupils’ perceptions of competence in physical education in order to support the development of body satisfaction

Explaining the effects of a 1-year intervention promoting a low fat diet in adolescent girls: a mediation analysis

Background : Although it is important to investigate how interventions work, no formal mediation analyses have been conducted to explain behavioral outcomes in school-based fat intake interventions in adolescents. The aim of the present study was to examine mediation effects of changes in psychosocial determinants of dietary fat intake (attitude, social support, self-efficacy, perceived benefits and barriers) on changes in fat intake in adolescent girls. Methods : Data from a 1-year prospective intervention study were used. A random sample of 804 adolescent girls was included in the study. Girls in the intervention group (n = 415) were exposed to a multi-component school-based intervention program, combining environmental changes with a computer tailored fat intake intervention and parental support. Fat intake and psychosocial determinants of fat intake were measured with validated self-administered questionnaires. To assess mediating effects, a product-of-coefficient test, appropriate for cluster randomized controlled trials, was used. Results : None of the examined psychosocial factors showed a reliable mediating effect on changes in fat intake. The single-mediator model revealed a statistically significant suppression effect of perceived barriers on changes in fat intake (p = 0.011). In the multiple-mediator model, this effect was no longer significant, which was most likely due to changes in perceived barriers being moderately related to changes in self-efficacy (-0.30) and attitude (-0.25). The overall mediated-suppressed effect of the examined psychosocial factors was virtually zero (total mediated effect = 0.001; SE = 7.22; p = 0.992). Conclusion : Given the lack of intervention effects on attitudes, social support, self-efficacy and perceived benefits and barriers, it is suggested that future interventions should focus on the identification of effective strategies for changing these theoretical mediators in the desired direction. Alternatively, it could be argued that these constructs need not be targeted in interventions aimed at adolescents, as they may not be responsible for the intervention effects on fat intake. To draw any conclusions regarding mediators of fat-intake change in adolescent\u27 girls and regarding optimal future intervention strategies, more systematic research on the mediating properties of psychosocial variables is needed

Dynamics of need-supportive and need-thwarting teaching behavior : the bidirectional relationship with student engagement and disengagement in the beginning of a lesson

Background: According to the classroom ecology paradigm, teachers and students interpret, predict, and respond to each other repeatedly in a reciprocal way. Such a reciprocal relationship is reflected in bidirectional interactions between a teacher’s behavior and student (dis)engagement, an issue that has been confirmed in longitudinal studies including measures at different moments in a school year.Aims: Starting from the perspective of self-determination theory, the aim of the present study was to investigate bidirectional relationships between student (dis)engagement and need-supportive and need-thwarting teaching behavior during the first 15 min of a lesson.Sample & method: The first three 5-minute intervals of 100 videotaped physical education lessons taught by 100 different teachers (51.9% male,Mage ¼ 37.5 + 10.9 years) were observed and coded for need-supportive and need-thwarting teaching behavior, student engagement, and student disengagement. Correlations were calculated to explore relationships between student (dis)engagement and teaching behavior over the first 15 minutes of a PE lesson. Next, path analyses were conducted to analyze 5-to- 5 minute interactions between teaching behavior and student (dis)engagement.Results: Student engagement correlated positively and disengagement correlatednegatively with need support, while engagement correlated negatively anddisengagement correlated positively with need-thwarting over the first 15 minutes of the lesson. There were few significant relationships between student engagement and teachers’ behavior across and between each of the three 5-minute intervals. Only when teachers provided more need support during the first 5 minutes of the lesson, students were more engaged in the third 5 minutes of the lesson. When students were more disengaged during the first 5 minutes of the lesson, teachers displayed less need support in the following 10 minutes of the lesson. In contrast, student disengagement in the second 5 minutes of the lesson related to more need support in the next 5 minutes. Most of the within-interval relationships between student engagement and teachers’ behaviors were inconsistent, but we did find positive relationships between student disengagement and need-thwarting teaching behaviors in the first and third interval, suggesting a rather direct and momentary within 5-minute intervals interaction between teachers and students.Conclusions: Findings of the present observational study suggest that, although overall relationships between student (dis)engagement and teachers’ behavior were in the expected directions, the picture might become more complicated when relationships are investigated according to the timing of the lesson, an issue that has remained uncovered in self-reported studies. While student disengagement was related to less need support and more need-thwarting teaching behaviors, more detailed analyses showed that it was particularly student disengagement in the beginning of a lesson that elicited less positive teaching behaviors. When students display disengagement further along in the first 15 minutes of the lesson, teachers seemed to respond in a more need supportive way to student disengagement. Such findings provide interesting insights to build interventions for teachers around certain critical moments during the lesson, for example when dealing with student disengagement at a specific moment in the lesson

The role of task and ego-oriented climate in explaining students’ bright and dark motivational experiences in Physical Education

Background: A distinction is made in Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) between task-oriented (i.e. effort, intra-individual progress, and self-comparison) and ego-oriented (i.e. inter-individual progress and normative comparison) climates. Combining insights from AGT and Self-Determination Theory (SDT), studies in the PE context have shown that a task-oriented climate positively relates to need satisfaction, although the findings regarding the motivating role of an ego-oriented climate are inconsistent. Moreover, little is known about the role of task- or ego-oriented climates in explaining experiences of basic psychological need frustration. Purpose: Grounded in AGT and SDT, the aim of the present study was to examine if experiences of basic psychological need satisfaction and need frustration can explain why task- and ego-oriented climates elicit positive and negative motivational outcomes in PE, respectively. Research design: Cross-sectional study. Method: A sample of 524 secondary school students (51.1% boys, M age = 14.51; SD = 1.81) from five different secondary schools participated in this study. Students reported on their perceptions of task- and ego-oriented climates, motivational regulations, basic psychological need satisfaction, and need frustration, as well as positive and negative outcomes in PE. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate our objective. Results: We found that a task-oriented climate had a strong and positive relationship with basic psychological need satisfaction, eliciting a bright pathway to autonomous motivation and affective attitude. An ego-oriented climate was positively related to basic psychological need frustration, eliciting a dark pathway to amotivation and boredom. A negative cross-path from task-oriented climate to basic psychological need frustration was also found, while no significant cross-paths were found from ego-oriented climate to basic psychological need satisfaction. Conclusions: This study provides a better understanding of the mechanisms that explain why task- and ego-oriented climates shape students’ motivational experiences in PE lessons. It is suggested that a task-oriented climate elicits a bright pathway towards more optimal functioning, because it fosters experiences of need satisfaction and buffers against experiences of need frustration. In contrast, an ego-oriented climate is primarily positively related to feelings of need frustration and negative motivational outcomes. Practical implications for PE teacher training are discussed