The Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education Scale

Transcription

1 Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 2011, 30, Human Kinetics, Inc. The Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education Scale Symeon P. Vlachopoulos, Ermioni S. Katartzi, and Maria G. Kontou Aristotle University of Thessaloniki The present study reported on the modification of the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (Vlachopoulos & Michailidou, 2006) to assess students psychological need fulfillment in elementary school, middle school, and high school compulsory physical education classes. Data were collected from 817 5th and 6th grade students, 862 middle school students and 844 high school students, boys and girls. The findings supported an a priori correlated 3-factor structure of the Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education scale (BPN-PE) with strong internal reliability for all three school grade levels. Support was also obtained for the nomological validity of the scale responses. Further, measurement invariance emerged for BPN-PE scores across boys and girls and across students who participated or not in out-of-school sports within each school grade level as well as across all three school grade levels. Keywords: self-determination theory, autonomy, competence, relatedness, basic need satisfaction, children Health gains from increased physical activity and energy expenditure in youth include the short-term benefits of reducing overweight and obesity, increasing selfesteem and self-efficacy, and enhancing scholastic competence whereas longer-term gains include the prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease (American College of Sports Medicine, 2000; Canadian Paediatric Society, 2002; Ritchie et al. 2001; Warburton, Nicol, & Bredin, 2006). Moreover, research has identified a possible long-term link between current and future physical activity behaviors such that physically active adolescents will be more likely to be active during adulthood (Conroy, Cook, Manson, Buring, & Lee, 2005; Telama et al. 2005; Vanreusel et al. 1997). However, 65% of young individuals aged between 11 and 15 years in Europe are physically inactive (Cavill, Kahlmeier, & Racioppi, 2006), 60% of U.S. children aged between 9 and 13 years do not participate in any organized PA during nonschool hours and 22.6% of U.S. children do not engage in any free-time physical activity (Rosamond et al. 2008). The authors are with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Department of Physical Education and Sport Science at Serres, Laboratory of Social Research on Physical Activity, Serres, Greece. 263

2 264 Vlachopoulos, Katartzi, and Kontou A theory that may promote a better understanding of motivated behavior is Selfdetermination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2002) which has also been applied to school-based physical education (Ntoumanis & Standage, 2009). The constructs of the SDT have been also outlined in the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation (HMIEM: Vallerand, 2001) in three hierarchical levels of generality. These levels are the global level, the contextual or domain-specific level, and the situational level. The global level refers to a general motivational orientation to interact with the environment in an intrinsic, extrinsic or amotivated way and captures relatively enduring individual differences with respect to individuals motivations. The contextual level refers to one s usual motivational orientation toward a specific context or distinct sphere of human activity (e.g., school, sport, etc.). People s motivational orientation may differ distinctly from one context to another. The situational level refers to the motivation while engaging in an activity (e.g., a particular school class, a sport training session, etc.). It refers to the here and now of motivation. The distinction between these three hierarchical levels of generality of motivation measurement facilitates testing theorized top-down and bottom-up motivational influences between these hierarchical levels of motivation over time. A number of published articles have highlighted the utility of SDT for a better understanding of motivated physical activity behavior in these populations (Motl, 2007; Bryan & Solmon, 2007) and various studies have begun to test tenets of SDT in regard to predictions of intention for physical activity participation and actual physical activity behavior among children and adolescents (Chatzisarantis, Biddle, & Meek, 1997; Hagger & Armitage, 2004; Shen, McCaughtry, & Martin, 2007). Central in SDT are the constructs of the three innate, universal, and nonhierarchical psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness the fulfillment of which, leads to optimal motivated behavior and psychological wellbeing. The need for autonomy refers to the experience of behavior as volitional and self-endorsed (Niemec & Ryan, 2009). Autonomous behavior is not only intentional but also volitional. Individuals fully assent to engaging in their actions. It reflects an internal state characterized by integrated endorsement and organization of actions. The need for competence refers to a sense of effective interaction with the environment and the experience of opportunities to express or develop one s capacities. The need for relatedness refers to individuals feelings that they are authentically associated and experience a sense of connection with others, a sense that includes a feeling of being included and cared for by others within the domain of action, and a sense of belonging in a social milieu (Ryan & Deci, 2002; Ryan, Williams, Patrick, & Deci, 2009). In line with SDT, the fulfillment of these needs corresponds with higher levels of self-determination, that is, a feeling that behavior emanates from the individual s true self. According to Vallerand (2001), these needs mediate the effects of sociocontextual factors (e.g., PE teacher s behaviors) on students selfdetermined motivation (e.g., for PE participation) and Ryan and Deci (2002) have hypothesized a direct positive effect of need satisfaction on indexes of psychological health and well-being such as subjective vitality (Ryan & Frederick, 1997). Subjective vitality refers to a positive feeling of aliveness and energy perceived to emanate from the self and specifically from an internal perceived locus of causality, that is, the perception that events or actions are a true expression of oneself. It concerns a specific psychological experience of having positive energy available to or within the regulatory control of oneself, energy possessing enthusiasm and spirit, and represents

3 Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education 265 a significant indicator of personal well-being. Vitality is not a direct reflection of observable effort or caloric energy expenditure since efforts to accomplish a task that one is compelled to do (i.e., external perceived locus of causality) would not reflect feelings of vitality. Vitality reflects autonomous behavior that actualizes and enhances oneself rather than effortful behavior that might be experienced as detracting from one s ability to behave in an autonomous way (Ryan & Frederick, 1997). Examples of vitality items include I feel alive and vital and I feel energized. Higher levels of self-determination imply higher levels of intrinsic motivation (e.g., experiencing PE participation as enjoyable), identified regulation (e.g., considering PE participation as personally important), and lower levels of introjected regulation (e.g., partaking in PE to avoid negative feelings), external regulation (e.g., partaking in PE owing to external pressures) and amotivation (e.g., absence of motivation to partake in PE). Higher levels of self-determination in turn, lead to increasingly positive cognitive (e.g., concentration during PE), affective (e.g., PE enjoyment), and behavioral (e.g., higher levels of effort and investment during PE) motivational consequences (Vallerand, 2001). A number of studies have supported the SDT propositions concerning the positive effects of need fulfillment on psychological well-being and behavior in various contexts (Sheldon & Filak, 2008; Vansteenkiste et al. 2007) whereas in PE, SDT research has provided initial support for the proposed motivational role of the fulfillment of the basic psychological needs (Ntoumanis & Standage, 2009; Standage, Duda, & Ntoumanis, 2005). Contextual or domain-specific SDT research requires scales specific to the behavioral domain under study (e.g., school-based PE). Lack of domain-specific instrumentation to assess the degree to which the three psychological needs are fulfilled in school-based PE impedes the systematic assessment of the role of the fulfillment of the three needs in students motivational processes and behavior in this context. Murcia, Coll, Garzon, and Rojas (2008) adapted the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale to the PE context. However, the authors tested the psychometric properties of the instrument in a limited range of students aged between 14 and 16 years. Further, the authors applied the scale to the new context without proceeding to any item modifications to make the scale more appropriate to the PE domain. For instance, whereas in exercise, individuals may be able to choose the content of their exercise program, a PE curriculum may not provide the opportunity for such a choice to the student. Examination of psychological need satisfaction is an important aspect of SDT tests across all school grade levels (e.g., elementary school, middle school, high school). Therefore, the need exists for a short, easy-to-administer, valid, reliable, and context-appropriate instrument to measure students psychological need satisfaction that can be used in repeated assessments in longitudinal and experimental PE research. The goal of the study was to provide such instrumentation. Given that physical activity is the defining feature of the PE class environment, existing scales most relevant to the PE context are the Psychological Need Satisfaction in Exercise Scale (PNSE: Wilson, Rogers, Rodgers, & Wild, 2006) and the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (Vlachopoulos & Michailidou, 2006) both scales designed to assess the extent to which the three needs are fulfilled in exercise settings. The PNSE is an 18-item scale with six items per need factor with an adequate factor structure, high internal consistency, and adequate convergent

4 266 Vlachopoulos, Katartzi, and Kontou validity with proxy measures. The BPNES is a 12-item scale with four items per factor and possesses a good factor structure, high internal consistency, discriminant validity, and predictive validity. As the BPNES is the shorter instrument and meets the above criteria for scale selection, the purpose of the current study was to scrutinize and modify the item content of the BPNES to make it appropriate for the assessment of students need satisfaction in compulsory school-based PE. The goals of the current study were: (a) to examine the scale s (labeled BPN-PE) factor structure by investigating whether the item responses would fit a correlated 3-factor model (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) tested via Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). CFA may be used to test the validity of the factor structure of an instrument or put differently, to determine the extent to which items intended to measure a factor, actually do so (Byrne, 2006); (b) to investigate the internal reliability of the instrument subscales by examining whether for each BPN-PE subscale the alpha value (Cronbach, 1951) would be greater than.70, the composite reliability value would be greater than.60 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988), and the average variance extracted (AVE) value would be greater than.50 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981); (c) to investigate the extent to which predictions derived from SDT in regard to the three psychological needs are supported (nomological validity) (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955; Li, 1999). The aim was to examine whether the psychological needs would mediate the relationship between perceived autonomy support provided by the PE teacher (PAS) and students levels of subjective vitality in line with SDT predictions. In addition, positive correlations between the BPN-PE subscale mean scores and the variables of PAS and subjective vitality would provide further support for the nomological validity of the BPN-PE responses within each school grade level separately. (d) to examine the extent to which the BPN-PE items were measurement invariant or put differently were interpreted in the same way across boys and girls and across students participating or not in out-of-school sport activities within each school grade level, and across elementary, middle school, and high school students. Participants Method Elementary School Sample. In terms of elementary school students (Sample 1) there were 817 students consisting of 409 boys and 408 girls aged between 11 and 12 yrs. (M = 11.53, SD = 0.49). There were 385 (47.1%) 5th grade students and 432 (52.9%) 6th grade students. Students represented 44 school classes from 16 elementary schools in a large county including a town and several villages in northern Greece. Of them, 608 (74.4%) were involved in out-of-school sport activities whereas 209 (25.6%) were not. Those involved were participating in 21 different sports including track and field, various ball sports, tae kwon do, tennis, and swimming attending between 1 and 9 times per week (M = 3.29, SD = 1.45).

5 Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education 267 Middle School Sample. In terms of middle school students (Sample 2) there were 862 students consisting of 406 (47.1%) boys and 456 girls (52.9%) aged between 13 and 15 yrs. (M = 13.96, SD = 0.80). There were 300 (34.8%) 7th grade students, 301 8th grade students (34.9%) and 261 9th grade students (30.3%). Students represented 43 school classes from 4 middle schools (two public, one private and one rural) in a large county including a town and several villages in northern Greece. Of them, 531 (61.6%) were involved in out-of-school sport activities whereas 331 (38.4%) were not. Those involved were participating in 21 different sports including various ball sports, tae kwon do, track and field, swimming, and tennis participating between 1 and 8 times per week (M = 3.43, SD = 1.42). High School Sample. In terms of high school students (Sample 3) there were 844 students consisting of 398 (47.2%) boys and 446 (52.8%) girls aged between 16 and 18 yrs. (M = 16.88, SD = 0.76). There were 326 (38.6%) 10th grade students, 346 (41%) 11th grade students and 172 (20.4%) 12th grade students. Students represented 44 school classes from 5 high schools (three public, one private, and one rural) in a large county including a town and several villages in northern Greece. Of them, 399 (47.3%) were involved in out-of-school sport activities whereas 445 (52.7%) were not. Those involved were participating in 20 different sports including various ball sports, tae kwon do, track and field, swimming, and tennis participating between 1 and 10 times per week (M = 3.66, SD = 1.49). The schools were selected using the simple random sampling procedure among the schools within the particular county in northern Greece. However, this method of school sampling does not support generalization of findings to the remaining schools in Greece. In terms of the physical education programs within the Greek curriculum, participation in PE is compulsory. The content of PE classes within the 5th and 6th elementary grades and the middle school grades is specific and determined by the national PE curriculum. The goal is that students learn and develop mastery in a range of sports skills in a number of sports. In contrast, high school students are provided with the opportunity to choose specific sports to participate during PE. The goal underpinning the PE curriculum is that students develop sports skills during the elementary and middle school years to be able to proficiently participate in sports they choose in PE during the high school years. An important goal of the PE curriculum is the cultivation of a positive attitude toward physical activity participation to increase the probability that students lead an active lifestyle as adults. Measures Perceived Autonomy Support. Students perceptions of PE teacher s autonomy supportive behaviors (PAS) during PE classes were assessed via the short (6-item) version of the Health Care Climate Questionnaire (HCCQ; Williams, Grow, Freedman, Ryan, & Deci, 1996). Sample items are I feel that my PE teacher provides me choices and options in regard to the way I participate in PE and My PE teacher encourages me to ask questions. Responses were provided on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree). Edmunds et al. (2006) have reported a Cronbach s alpha coefficient above.90 for the 6-item version in exercise.

6 268 Vlachopoulos, Katartzi, and Kontou Psychological Need Satisfaction. The Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (BPNES: Vlachopoulos & Michailidou, 2006) that has been developed in Greek was modified to assess the extent to which students psychological needs were fulfilled during PE classes. The modified scale labeled BPN-PE comprises 12 items divided into three subscales with four items per subscale to assess autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Adequate reliability and validity evidence has been provided for the BPNES in exercise (Vlachopoulos, 2007, 2008; Vlachopoulos & Neikou, 2007; Vlachopoulos & Karavani, 2009). Specifically, autonomy alpha values ranged between.80 and.84, competence values between.80 and.86 and relatedness values between.88 and.92. In terms of modifications, the stem of the BPNES was modified to In general, in PE... to reflect contextual assessment of need satisfaction in PE. In general, an effort was made to retain the meaning of the initial items for all three subscales. The BPNES Autonomy #4 item I feel that I have the opportunity to make choices with regard to the way I exercise was modified to I feel like the activities we are doing have been chosen by me. The content of this item was modified completely in comparison with the original BPNES given that the content of the Greek PE curriculum is compulsory for elementary and middle school students and there is no actual choice as to the activity students may get involved except the high school grades. The meaning of this phrase in Greek is that students feel like these activities are exactly what they really like to do during PE and they feel very willing to be involved in them. All four competence items were reworded as to include the element of challenge by referring to tasks that are considered difficult by most of the students. In regard to the Relatedness subscale, an effort was made to achieve a balance between items referring to friendly relationships between the students and items emphasizing the element of group belongingness. The response scale was modified to a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (I don t agree at all) to 7 (I completely agree) with the midpoint of 4 using the verbal anchor (I moderately agree) to increase response variability. The BPN-PE items are presented in the Appendix. Subjective Vitality. Students levels of subjective vitality were assessed using the individual differences version of the Subjective Vitality Scale (Ryan & Frederick, 1997). This scale measures eudaemonic well-being indicators of having energy available to the self and feeling alive and alert (e.g., I have energy and spirit and I feel alive and vital ). The scale is unidimensional and comprises seven items. In the current study item #2 was eliminated to improve the scale s effectiveness (Bostic, Rubio, & Hood, 2000). Responses were provided on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all true) to 7 (very true). Ryan and Frederick (1997) and Bostic et al. (2000) have provided evidence for the validity and reliability of the scale with reported alphas ranging from.80 to.89. Procedures Data were collected via self-report questionnaires by students in elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Access to the schools was granted by the Greek Institute for Pedagogy and the principals of the respective schools whereas parental and student consent was also secured. Questionnaires were completed in a quiet classroom environment under the supervision of two of the authors but not the PE teacher. To minimize students socially desirable responding, they were ensured

7 Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education 269 that their responses would not affect their grades and their PE teachers would not have access to their individual responses. Students were also told that there were no right or wrong answers. Participants were treated in accordance with the American Psychological Association (APA) ethical guidelines while university research regulations were adhered to. The students were informed that their participation in the research was voluntary and were assured of the anonymity and the confidentiality of their responses. Data Analysis Initially, CFA was used to test the first hypothesis of the factor structure of the BPN-PE scores. The factor variances were fixed to unity, the factor covariances were free to be estimated, and item error covariances were fixed to zero. CFA model fit was examined using the chi-square statistic; the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) (Bentler, 1990) with a value close to.95 indicating an excellent fit to the data (Hu & Bentler, 1999) and a value of.90 or greater indicating a reasonable fit; the Root Mean Squared Error of Approximation (RMSEA: Steiger & Lind, 1980) with its accompanying 90% confidence interval (RMSEA 90% CI) and a value less than.05 indicating a good model fit (Hu & Bentler, 1999) with a value from.08 to.10 representing adequate fit (Browne & Cudeck, 1993) (Byrne, 2000); and the Standardized Root Mean Squared Residual (SRMR) with a value smaller than.10 indicating acceptable model fit. The indexes used to assess the internal reliability of the subscales were Cronbach s alpha, average variance extracted (AVE), that is, the variance accounted for by the construct indicators relative to measurement error (Fornell & Larcker, 1981), and composite reliability that reflects the proportion of shared variance to error variance in a construct (Li, Harmer, & Acock, 1996). To test for nomological validity and after combining the three data sets into one data set to reduce the volume of results reporting, we examined the mediating role of autonomy, competence and relatedness in the relationship between PAS by the PE teacher and subjective vitality using latent variable structural equation modeling. In addition, Pearson s correlations were computed of the BPN-PE composite scores with PAS and subjective vitality to further examine nomological validity for each school grade level separately. Further, multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA) were used to examine the extent to which BPN-PE items were measurement invariant across boys and girls, across students participating or not in out-of-school sport activities within each school grade level, and across elementary, middle school, and high school students. For each group comparison a series of four multigroup models were tested in line with Gregorich (2006). First, the configural invariance model (Model 1) where no cross-group equality constraints are imposed and is used as the basis for subsequent model comparisons. Second, the metric invariance model (Model 2) where equality constraints are imposed on the item loadings. Third, the strong invariance model (Model 3) where equality constrains are imposed on the item intercepts for those items found to have invariant factor loadings in step 2. Fourth, the strict invariance model (Model 4) where equality constraints are imposed on item residuals for the items found to have invariant both factor loadings and item intercepts concurrently in step 3. Parameter estimates (e.g., item intercepts) were concluded to be group-invariant when after comparison of the

8 270 Vlachopoulos, Katartzi, and Kontou more constrained model (e.g., strong invariance model) with the less constrained model (e.g., metric invariance model) the difference in the CFI value (ΔCFI) was not greater than 0.01 (Cheung & Rensvold, 2002). Thus, Model 2 was compared with Model 1, Model 3 was compared with Model 2, and Model 4 was compared with Model 3. Despite that other indexes such as the RMSEA and its respective 90% confidence interval were also consulted for the adequacy of each model, it was the ΔCFI that was mainly used to conclude parameter invariance because the CFI is not influenced by sample size and model complexity and does not correlate with overall measures of fit (Cheung & Rensvold, 2002). Results Factor Structure, Item Properties, and Estimates of Internal Reliability Given the nested structure of the data (students belonging in different classes within different schools) between-class variation was estimated to evaluate whether there is a substantial between-class effect using the intraclass correlation (ICC, the proportion of between-class variance to total variance) for each scale indicator. The ICC ranges from 0 to 1 with greater values indicating greater proportions of between-class variance. According to Byrne (2006), when ICC values of.10 or greater combine with group sizes exceeding 15 the multilevel structure of the data should be modeled. In the present data, ICC values ranged from 0.03 to 0.09 for elementary students, from 0.01 to 0.10 with one value at 0.11 for middle school students, and between 0.01 and 0.09 for high school students. Because in general ICC values were within acceptable limits, the multilevel structure of the data was not modeled. Further, owing to the multivariate nonnormality of the data for all three samples (Normalized estimate of Mardia s coefficient of multivariate kurtosis: elementary school = ; middle school = 85.76; high school = , Byrne, 2006), the robust ML method was employed using EQSWIN 6.1 (Bentler, 2003). This method provides the nonnormality corrected Satorra-Bentler Scaled χ 2 (S-B χ 2 ), CFI and RMSEA along with a 90% CI but not the robust SRMR. The CFA results indicated a good fit for the correlated 3-factor model of the BPN-PE responses within each school grade level. For elementary school: S-B scaled χ 2 = , df = 51, robust CFI =.972, robust RMSEA =.046, RMSEA 90% CI = The fully standardized item loadings ranged from.711 to.890. For middle school, S-B scaled χ 2 = , df = 51, robust CFI =.948, robust RMSEA =.072, RMSEA 90% CI = The fully standardized item loadings ranged from.718 to.825. For high school: S-B scaled χ 2 = , df = 51, robust CFI =.977, robust RMSEA =.055, RMSEA 90% CI = The fully standardized item loadings ranged from.761 to.912. Table 1 presents descriptive information of the psychometric properties of the BPN-PE items based on the correlated 3-factor CFA model. The reliability indexes supported adequate internal reliability for all three subscales across all three samples. The alpha coefficients for autonomy, competence, and relatedness were greater than.70, the composite reliability values were greater than.60 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988) and the AVE values were greater than.50 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981) supporting the scales internal reliability (Table 2).

9 Table 1 Correlated 3-factor CFA Model Descriptive Statistics and Completely Standardized Parameter Estimates for the BPN-PE Scale Items BPN-PE items M SD Item skewness Item kurtosis Item loading Item uniqueness SMC E M H E M H E M H E M H E M H E M H E M H Autonomy Autonomy Autonomy Autonomy Competence Competence Competence Competence Relatedness Relatedness Relatedness Relatedness Note: E = elementary school students (n = 817); M = middle school students (n = 862); H = high school students (n = 844). CFA = Confirmatory Factor Analysis; BPN-PE = Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education Scale; SMC = Squared Multiple Correlation. Responses are provided on a 7-point Likert-type scale. All factor loadings and item uniquenesses are statistically significant at p <.05. Item numbers indicate item order in the questionnaire. 271

10 272 Vlachopoulos, Katartzi, and Kontou Table 2 BPN-PE Latent Factor Correlations, Alpha Coefficients, Composite Reliability, and Average Variance Extracted BPN-PE Subscales Elementary school Cronbach s a Composite reliability AVE 1. Autonomy Competence.79* Relatedness.67*.63* Middle school 1. Autonomy Competence.73* Relatedness.66*.70* High school 1. Autonomy Competence.70* Relatedness.62*.60* Note. *p <.05. Elementary school students (n = 817); Middle school students (n = 862); High school students (n = 844). AVE = Average variance extracted. Nomological Validity Nomological validity was examined via testing the mediating role of autonomy, competence and relatedness in the relationship between PAS by the PE teacher and students subjective vitality. The analyses were performed in all three samples combined to reduce the volume of results reporting. In accordance with Hoyle and Smith (1994) two latent variable structural equation models were tested (Figure 1). Model 1 (direct effect model) posited PAS to directly predict vitality (Satorra- Bentler χ 2 = , df = 53, p <.001, robust NNFI =.968, robust CFI =.975, robust RMSEA =.050, RMSEA 90% CI = ). In Model 2 (mediated effect model) the direct effect of PAS on vitality was retained and the three needs were added as mediators of the relationship between PAS and vitality (Satorra-Bentler χ 2 = 2,152.27, df = 245, p <.001, robust NNFI =.928, robust CFI =.936, robust RMSEA =.056, RMSEA 90% CI = ). The aim was to compare the direct effect of PAS on vitality in Models 1 and 2. If the predictor-outcome path is zero with the mediators in the model, there is evidence of complete mediation (Frazier, Tix, & Barron, 2004). The findings showed that when the mediators were included in the model, the initial strong and significant effect of PAS on vitality was largely reduced and became nonsignificant, thus demonstrating the full mediatory role of the three needs in the relationship between PAS and vitality (Figure 1). Overall, the present path analyses contributed evidence in support of the nomological validity of the BPN-PE scores. In addition, positive bivariate correlations, consistent with theoretical predictions, were obtained between the BPN-PE subscales and the composite scores of PAS and subjective vitality. Vitality Cronbach s alpha values were.90 for elementary school,.90 for middle school and.93 for high school. Autonomy

11 Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education 273 Figure 1 Latent variable structural equation models testing the mediating effects of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the relationship between perceived autonomy support by the PE teacher and students subjective vitality. Model 1: Direct effect model; Model 2: Mediated effect model. Circles represent latent variables. N = 2,523; *significant at p <.05. Item loadings have been omitted for clarity purposes. support alphas were.83 for elementary school,.84 for middle school and.88 for high school. These correlations provided further support to the nomological validity of the BPN-PE scores (Table 3). Measurement Invariance The findings in relation to measurement invariance showed that boys and girls responses on the BPN-PE were fully invariant at all four levels of assessment (i.e., configural, metric, strong, strict) for each school grade level separately except middle school students for the strict invariance model where the item residual equality constraints related to autonomy #4, competence #4 and relatedness #2 items were not tenable (i.e., partial strict invariance). Measurement invariance at a particular level of assessment was inferred when the difference between the robust CFI values for the more constrained and the less constrained model (ΔCFI) did not exceed 0.01 (Cheung & Rensvold, 2002). In addition, BPN-PE responses of students who participated or not in out-of-school sport activities were also found to be fully invariant at all four levels of assessment within each school grade level separately. Further, BPN-PE scores were fully invariant across all three school grade levels. All values of the overall fit indexes for all multigroup models tested were within acceptable limits.

12 274 Vlachopoulos, Katartzi, and Kontou Table 3 Descriptive Statistics and Pearson s Correlations Among the Study Variables Variables M SD Elementary school students 1. Autonomy Competence * 3. Relatedness *.56* 4. Perceived autonomy support *.46*.37* 5. Subjective vitality *.58*.44*.46* Middle school students 1. Autonomy Competence * 3. Relatedness *.62* 4. Perceived autonomy support *.46*.44* 5. Subjective vitality *.63*.48*.48* High school students 1. Autonomy Competence * 3. Relatedness *.55* 4. Perceived autonomy support *.51*.41* 5. Subjective vitality *.67*.42*.52* Note. *p <.05. Discussion The present study reports on the psychometric evaluation of a domain-specific measure of the extent to which students psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are fulfilled during participation in compulsory school-based PE classes. The data supported the a priori 3-factor structure with scale items strongly defining their intended factors. At the same time, the internal reliability indexes provided evidence of coherence among the items operating as indirect indicators of the need factors. Nomological Validity Given the theorized positive relationship between the fulfillment of the three psychological needs and indexes of psychological health and well-being (Ryan & Deci, 2002), nomological analyses provided initial support for the nature of the constructs assessed and their role in the self-determination theory nomological network in line with hypotheses forwarded by the HMIEM (Vallerand, 2001). That is, the data supported the mediating role of the three psychological needs in the relationship between PE teacher s perceived autonomy support and levels of subjective vitality experienced by the respondents in PE. This conclusion was supported by the fact that the direct relationship between perceived autonomy support and subjective vitality was substantially reduced to nonsignificance when the three psychological needs were posited as mediators of the relationship between PAS and

13 Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education 275 vitality in the structural equation models. In addition, the data revealing positive relationships of the three needs with perceive autonomy support and subjective vitality within each school grade level separately, further supported the nature of the three psychological need constructs. Measurement Invariance The measurement invariance analyses demonstrated that in general the BPN-PE items hold the same meaning across boys and girls within each school grade level, across students participating or not in out-of-school sport activities, and across 5th and 6th elementary grades, middle school, and high school students. These findings apply for all group comparisons performed in the current study and for all school grade levels except for middle school boys and girls when invariance was assessed at the strict level where the autonomy #4, competence #4 and relatedness #2 item residuals were found to be noninvariant (partial strict factorial invariance; Byrne, Shavelson, & Muthen, 1989). Such group comparisons are important given that they guard against the possibility that members of different groups interpret the scale items differently. Specifically, invariant factor loadings are evidence that participants attach the same meaning to the scale items. Items with invariant factor loadings may be used for valid comparisons of latent factor variances, covariances (i.e., controlling for measurement error) and structural relationships (i.e., regression parameters) between latent variables (Gregorich, 2006). Invariance of item intercepts (i.e., strong invariance) is a prerequisite for latent mean and observed mean comparisons (Gregorich, 2006). Lack of item intercept invariance means that variables unrelated to the common factors may result into higher or lower responses in one group compared with the other (Gregorich, 2006). Evidence of strong factorial invariance means that cross-group differences in observed means are assumed to be unbiased estimates of group differences in the corresponding latent factor means (Gregorich, 2006). Strict factorial invariance is a prerequisite for group comparison of observed variance and covariance estimates across groups given that such comparisons should reflect entirely differences in common factor variation and should not be contaminated by differences in residual variance. Such invariance is necessary for meaningful group comparisons of item score variance estimates or composite score variance estimates (Gregorich, 2006). Hence, in the present data such gender comparisons within middle school students should be performed without using the autonomy #4, competence #4 and relatedness #2 items. These differences may be attributed to the different PE experiences of each of the groups which are common to the members of the same group (Malpass, 1977). Strengths and Limitations of the Study The major contribution of the current study lies in the provision of an instrument that may be used for continued systematic domain-specific assessment of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in PE. In the current study, BPN-PE psychometric data have been provided for all three school grade levels of elementary school (5th and 6th grades), middle school, and high school separately, allowing researchers to conduct informed psychological need satisfaction research either within each or across these school grade levels.

14 276 Vlachopoulos, Katartzi, and Kontou Limitations of the current study include the lack of criterion variables of an objective nature to examine their association with psychological need satisfaction such as grades obtained in PE and performance in various motor tasks. The second type of criterion would be especially important given a number of students that may be characterized by the Developmental Coordination Disorder syndrome (DCD: Cermack & Larkin, 2002) with limited motor proficiency. Such a population may be especially at risk for developing a negative attitude toward PE and physical activity participation with increased probability of leading inactive lifestyles as adults. Future Directions The BPN-PE scale may be used in future studies examining the relative effectiveness of various teaching styles attempting to promote positive physical activity experiences in students during PE classes via psychological need satisfaction and to facilitate the internalization of physical activity behavior. Given that the BPN-PE is a short and easy to administer instrument, it may be used to facilitate longitudinal research on the influence of an autonomy-supportive teaching style on the development of psychological characteristics that may operate as mediators of physical activity behavior such as students athletic identity and interest toward particular sport activities or physical activity in general. Further research should also provide information on the stability of BPN-PE scores over short and longer time intervals given such a requirement in longitudinal and experimental domain-specific research. Acknowledgments The present study was supported by the Greek Institute for Pedagogy that provided access to the schools of the study. We are also grateful to the school principals, the PE teachers, and the students for their collaboration in data collection. References American College of Sports Medicine. (2000). ACSM s guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (6th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Bagozzi, R.P., & Yi, Y. (1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 16, Bentler, P.M. (1990). Comparative fit indices in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, Bentler, P.M. (2003). EQS 6.1 for Windows. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software. [Computer software]. Bostic, T.J., Rubio, D.M., & Hood, M. (2000). A validation of the subjective vitality scale using structural equation modeling. Social Indicators Research, 52, Browne, M.W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K.A. Bollen & S.J. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp ). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Bryan, C.L., & Solmon, M.A. (2007). Self-determination in physical education: Designing class environments to promote active lifestyles. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 26,

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