Relationship between Psychological Needs and Academic Self-Concept in Physical Education Pre-Service Teachers: A Mediation Analysis

Abstract

Academic self-concept plays a determining role in the teacher education process. Although research in education has focused on understanding the mechanisms that produce higher academic effort and academic self-confidence, the role that satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs and social support and resilience might play on academic self-concept is not known. The aim of the present study was to analyse the mediating effect of social support and resilience in the relationship between satisfaction/frustration of basic psychological needs and academic confidence and academic effort. A non-experimental, cross-sectional, correlational-causal study was designed. In total, 328 Physical Education pre-service teachers (131 women; 197 men) participated from eight Andalusian public universities. The age ranged from 22 to 45 years (M = 24.83; SD = 3.57). The following scales were used: Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction in Education, Basic Psychological Needs Frustration in Education, Resilience, Social Support, and Academic Self-concept. A structural equations analysis with latent variables was carried out and the results obtained show that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs predicts an improvement in academic confidence and academic effort. In addition, resilience and social support significantly mediated the relationship between satisfaction of basic psychological needs and academic self-concept. This research also highlights the importance, both for teachers and researchers, of creating a context for encouraging the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, to promote academic self-concept in initial teacher training.

Las habilidades para la vida en futuros profesores de educación física y entrenadores deportivos: un estudio bajo la Teoría de la Autodeterminación

“…Investigaciones realizadas con profesores de educación física en formación han encontrado que la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas se asocia a variables indicadoras de rendimiento académico (Granero-Gallegos, Baena-Extremera et al, 2023;Granero-Gallegos, López-García et al, 2023), así como a actitudes hacia la inclusión (Li et al, 2019), pero se sabe poco sobre lo que ocurre con las habilidades para la vida, por lo que otra contribución de este estudio radica en mostrar que cuando las necesidades de autonomía, competencia y relación se ven satisfechas, entonces, futuros profesores de educación física y entrenadores deportivos se perciben más hábiles en cuanto al trabajo en equipo, establecimiento de metas, gestión del tiempo, habilidades sociales, de comunicación, emocionales, de liderazgo, y de toma de decisiones y resolución de problemas. Estas habilidades han sido señaladas como fundamentales para una incorporación exitosa hacia entornos profesionales (Lowden et al, 2011;Wolf et al, 2015).…”

“…educación física (e.g.,Granero-Gallegos, Baena-Extremera, Ortiz-Camacho & Burgueño, 2023; Granero-Gallegos, López-García, Baena-Extremera & Baños, 2023;Li, Wong, Sum & Yu, 2019), no obstante, estos trabajos no han aportado información sobre la relación de las necesidades psicológicas, el apoyo a la autonomía percibido y las habilidades para la vida. Por su parte, otras investigaciones (Burgueño, González-Cutre, Sicilia, Alcaraz-Ibáñez & Medina-Casaubón, 2021; Karaarslan, Ertepınar, & Sungur, 2013) que han analizado el estilo interpersonal que adopan los profesores universitarios y la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas de profesores en formación de otras asignaturas escolares, tampoco han clarificado lo que ocurre con las habilidades para la vida.…”

The influence of internship satisfaction and the psychological contract on the career identity behavior of fresh graduates

“…The effect of internship satisfaction (INS) on career identity behavior (CIB) can be observed through three paths: the transactional contract (TRC), the relational contract (REC), and the developmental contract (DEC). To test the mediating effect stated in the hypothesis, this study employed bootstrapped mediation ( Preacher and Hayes, 2004 ; Bracho-Amador et al, 2023 ; Granero-Gallegos et al, 2023 ). With a Bootstrap of 5,000, all three mediating paths showed statistical significance, and the confidence intervals of the indicators did not include 0.…”