Physical education for a healthy lifestyle : the role of perceived and actual competence

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the effect of perceived competence, actual competence, psychobiosocial states, and motivational factors experienced in the physical education context toward the intention to practice exercise or sport in out-of-school settings. Methods: Inactive female students (N = 191, age range 14–19 years) took part in the study. Measures included perceived competence (a single item), actual competence (teachers’ assessment), the Psychobiosocial states inventory (20 items measuring pleasant/functional and unpleasant/dysfunctional emotion-related states), the Situational Motivation Scale (16 items assessing intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, external regulation, and amotivation), and intention to practice exercise or sport outside of school (a single item). Results: Correlational results showed the intention to practice out-of-school physical activity or sport to negatively relate with unpleasant/dysfunctional states, external regulation, and amotivation, and to positively relate with all the other variables, including actual and perceived competence. Two hierarchical regression analyses were run by entering intention to practice out-of-school physical activity or sport as the dependent variable, while motivational factors and perceived competence (first analysis) or actual competence (second analysis) were entered as predictors. Results showed identified regulation to significantly contribute to the amount of the variability in the intention to practice physical activity outside of school. In the second analysis, actual competence further contributed to the amount of the variability. Conclusions: Findings suggest that both actual and perceived competence are important factors in promoting participation in physical activities or sport outside of school. During physical education lessons, teachers can increase both actual and perceived competence of their students in order to motivate them toward the adoption of a healthy lifestyle.