The relationship between students' psychological needs, social emotional competencies, and relatedness support from peers and teachers in physical education classes

Abstract

According to self-determination theory, personal well-being is promoted when humans fulfill three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In learning environments, relatedness is closely linked to motivation, concentration, and emotion regulation. Against the backdrop of South Korean physical education, this study examined the relationship between social emotional competencies and learning environments that support students' relatedness with teachers and peers. Participants were 379 middle school students aged 14-16 years (193 girls and 186 boys) from Jeollabuk-do Province, South Korea. Students completed reliable questionnaires concerning demographics, relatedness support from teachers and peers, psychological needs, and social emotional competencies. The results revealed that relatedness support from teachers and peers had a positive effect on students' psychological needs and social emotional competencies. Students' psychological needs had a positive effect on their social emotional competencies and acted as a mediator that promoted their social emotional competencies and fostered supportive learning environments. Our measurement model had an acceptable goodnessof- fit. Future studies should employ longitudinal or prospective study designs to verify our findings and address various teaching strategies that could promote students' social emotional competencies. Additionally, physical education teachers must create learning environments that help adolescents develop effective communication and emotional regulation skills.