An investigation of high school students' basic psychological needs in physical education and their attitudes towards physical education course

The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between students' basic psychological needs and attitudes towards physical education course. The population of the study includes 1343 students studying in Alaca district of Çorum province under three different general directorates (General Directorate of Secondary Education, General Directorate of Vocational and Technical Education, General Directorate of Religious Education). The sample of the study consists of 1088 students (Male 472=Female 616). Simple random sampling method was used in the study. Data collection tools were 'Socio-Demographic Information', 'Attitude Scale towards Physical Education Course' prepared by Güllü and Güçlü (2009) and 'Basic Psychological Needs Scale in Physical Education' prepared by Lachopoulos et al. (2011) and adapted into Turkish by Turkay et al. (2019). The data were collected by face-to-face method. SSPS 26 package program was used to analyze the data. T-Test and Anova analysis were used to determine whether the scales and dimensions in the study differed according to demographic variables. As a result of the ANOVA analysis, Tukey Test was used to determine between which groups there was a significant difference. Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between basic psychological needs and their sub-dimensions and attitude towards physical education course. Simple regression analysis was used to determine the effect of the independent variable (basic psychological needs) on the dependent variable (attitude towards physical education course). In addition, multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of the sub-dimensions of the Basic Psychological Needs Scale on the attitude towards physical education course. In the analysis of the data, 95% confidence interval (p<.05) was used for significance level. As a result; in terms of basic psychological needs and attitude towards physical education course, as the level of basic psychological needs increases, the level of attitude towards physical education course also increases. The effect of basic psychological needs on attitudes towards physical education course explains approximately 19%. The effect of the sub-dimensions of basic psychological needs on attitudes towards physical education course explains approximately 23%. Key Terms: Physical education and sports, attitude, psychological need, high school students Science Code: 130105