Author: Ziwei Yin
The aim of the present study was to investigate how Chinese high school students' psychological needs frustration in physical education courses relates to their school achievement, which was reflected by changes in physical fitness test results. According to the concept of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), humans have three fundamental needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Previous studies have shown that satisfying psychological needs leads to positive outcomes, while thwarting psychological needs causes negative outcomes. This research links Chinese high school students' psychological needs frustration to their school achievement within the PE context, which was conducted to assess the stability of school achievement in physical tests over time for students with different levels of needs frustration.
518 students (274 male, 244 female) from three Senior High Schools in Beijing
completed an online questionnaire during school days. The Two-Step Cluster Analysis in
SPSS was used to group students into homogeneous clusters based on their scores for
psychological needs thwarting. A mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried
out to measure the between-group and within-group differences.
Three distinct psychological needs profiles were identified: high frustration (20.3%),
moderate frustration (54.6%), and low frustration (25.1%). For school achievement, it
was discovered that students who reported high levels of frustration received the lowest
grades in both high school entrance exams and current exams, whereas those who
reported low levels of frustration received the highest grades. The mixed ANOVA
results showed a statistically significant difference in physical test scores between
entrance exams and current exams, indicating a decline in physical performance over
time across all three identified profiles. Overall, this study contributes to our
understanding of the complex interplay between psychological needs fulfilment and
academic performance, which could inform future research and interventions in this
field.
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Ziwei Yin has recently graduated from the masters program in Changing Education, at the faculty of education.
Key Words: Master's Thesis, Physical Education, School Achievement, Psychological Need Frustration