Children's Physical Self-Concept, Motivation, and Physical Performance: Does Physical Self-Concept or Motivation Play a Mediating Role?

Annette Lohbeck; Philipp von Keitz; Andreas Hohmann; Monika Daseking

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669936

Children's Physical Self-Concept, Motivation, and Physical Performance: Does Physical Self-Concept or Motivation Play a Mediating Role?

Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 30:12:669936. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669936. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Annette Lohbeck¹, Philipp von Keitz², Andreas Hohmann³, Monika Daseking²

Affiliations

¹ Educational Sciences, University of Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany.
² Educational Psychology, Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany.
³ Cultural Studies, Sport Science I, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany.

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the relations between physical self-concept, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as well as physical performance of 1,082 children aged 7-8 years. The central objective of this study was to contrast a mediation model assuming physical self-concept as a mediator of the relations between both types of motivation and physical performance to a mediation model assuming both types of motivation as mediators of the relations between physical self-concept and physical performance. Physical self-concept and both types of motivation were measured by using self-reported questionnaires, while physical performance was measured with 10 motor skill tests. All tests were carried out during regular school hours (8-12 A.M.) by qualified test personnel. Beyond correlation analyses, structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to find evidence for the predictive relations between the variables under study. Results showed that physical self-concept was significantly positively related to both types of motivation and physical performance (all p < 0.001). In contrast, results of SEM revealed that only physical self-concept (p < 0.001) and intrinsic motivation (p < 0.05) were significantly positively linked to physical performance. Furthermore, physical self-concept proved to significantly mediate the relations of both types of motivation to physical performance (p < 0.001), while only intrinsic motivation, but not extrinsic motivation, proved to significantly mediate the relation between physical self-concept and physical performance (p < 0.05). These results suggest that school-based or extracurricular interventions targeted at improving younger children's physical performance only by means of an increased level of physical activity or by external factors without supporting children's physical self-concept and intrinsic motivation may have less or no effects on their physical performance.

Keywords: extrinsic motivation; intrinsic motivation; physical performance; physical self-concept; relations.