| One of the fundamental goals of physical education is long term engagement in a physically active lifestyle which should result from the achievement of all six national standards. While it is not always feasible to investigate if students are physically active later in life, physical activity (PA) intentions provide meaningful insight into students' thoughts about being physically active in the future. In order to determine if physical education classes can influence PA intentions and potentially impact obesity prevalence, research is needed to uncover variables related to fitness achievement and short-term physical activity intentions. Consistent with the constructs of Self-Determination and Achievement Goal Theories, the purpose of this study was to determine the congruence between teachers' perceptions of autonomy support and autonomy supportive behaviors as well as to determine predictors of PA intentions, including teachers' autonomy supportive behavior: perception congruence and students' goal orientations (GO), perceived motivational climate (MC), perceived autonomy support (PAS), basic needs satisfaction (BNS), self-determined motivation (SDM), BMI, and physical fitness achievement and to investigate differences in these physical and motivational characteristics by teaching style. High school physical education teachers (n=4) were categorized as relatively autonomy supportive based on self-perceptions and behavior observed over a 6-week volleyball/fitness unit. Their respective students (n=157) completed surveys measuring GO, MC, PAS, BNS, SDM, and PA intentions in addition to completing measures of physical fitness. A quasi-hierarchical stepwise regression analysis was used to predict PA intentions, holding students' motivational dispositions and teaching style constant. The only predictor of PA intentions was students' SDM, explaining 18% of the total variance (Adj. R2 = 35%). A MANOVA testing variation in teacher behavior: perception congruence groups (where H:H = high behavior: high perceptions H:L = high behavior: low perceptions L:H = low behavior: high perceptions and L:L = low behavior: low perceptions) revealed that students of the H:H teacher reported higher levels of task orientation, perceived mastery climate, BNS, SDM, physical fitness achievement, and PA intentions than L:L students. Students of the H:L teacher reported higher levels of task orientation and physical fitness achievement while those of the H:H teacher reported higher perceptions of a mastery climate and physical fitness achievement. Finally, students of the H:H teacher had significantly higher PAS than all other groups. These results indicate that as a potentially influential piece of the PA intentions puzzle, a students' level of self-determined motivation should be considered when designing programs geared towards life-long physical fitness. Further, teaching style, while not found to be a predictor of PA intentions, has an effect on several motivational characteristics of students and its influence on PA intentions should be further investigated. |
