Psychological needs, motivation and emotional intelligence in physical education

Abstract

Motivation and emotional intelligence are very important in education, because they help to improve the learning and well-‐being of students. The main aim was to analyze the relationship between basic psychological needs, motivation, emotional intelligence, satisfaction with life and academic performance in physical education. A sample of 343 students from secondary education, aged between 11 and 17 years, was used (M = 13.78; DT = 1.28). The instruments used were: Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale, Perceived Locus of Causality Scale, Emotional Quotient inventory: Young Version, Satisfaction with Life Scale and the last course grade to measure the academic performance. The results showed positive correlations and predictive power between basic psychological needs, self-determined motivation types, emotional intelligence and possible consequences such as academic performance or satisfaction with life. At the same time, demotivation was associated with lower levels in the variables of study in the line of the self-‐determination theory. Furthemore, the psychological basic needs were shown as predictors of the self-determined motivation types and the emotional intelligence. These results indicate the importance of the basic psychological needs that will improve motivation and emotional aspects of the students, what can cause impact on academic performance or psychological well-‐being.