Key competencies of physical education and exercise-related positive wellbeing among secondary school students: indirect pathways through physical self-perception and autonomous motivation.

PURPOSE: This study examined the association between key competencies of physical education (KCPE) and exercise-related positive wellbeing among secondary school students from selected districts of Beijing. It also estimated specific indirect associations through physical self-perception and autonomous motivation, including the specified serial indirect pathway.

METHODS

An analytical cross-sectional survey was conducted using stratified cluster sampling among secondary school students from selected districts of Beijing. Participants completed standardized self-report measures, and the data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 27.0 and AMOS 28.0.

RESULTS

The hypothesized model showed good fit (χ2/df = 1.399, CFI = 0.997, TLI = 0.996, RMSEA = 0.021, SRMR = 0.013). KCPE was positively associated with physical self-perception (β = 0.390), autonomous motivation (β = 0.353), and exercise-related positive wellbeing (β = 0.190; all p < 0.001). Physical self-perception was positively associated with autonomous motivation (β = 0.280) and exercise-related positive well-being (β = 0.134), and autonomous motivation was positively associated with exercise-related positive wellbeing (β = 0.312; all p < 0.001). The standardized indirect associations through physical self-perception [0.052, 95% CI (0.024, 0.081)], autonomous motivation [0.110, 95% CI (0.078, 0.146)], and the specified serial indirect pathway involving both variables [0.034, 95% CI (0.022, 0.048)] were statistically significant. In supplementary models, none of the paths from KCPE, physical self-perception, or autonomous motivation to psychological distress or fatigue was statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

Among the surveyed students, KCPE was positively associated with exercise-related positive well-being, and physical self-perception and autonomous motivation showed statistically significant indirect associations within this relationship. These cross-sectional findings are consistent with the proposed association pattern but do not confirm temporal precedence, which requires longitudinal evidence.