A Basic Needs Theory investigation of adolescents' physical self-concept and global self-esteem

This investigation tested a Basic Needs Theory (BNT) model of physical self-concept with urban adolescents participating in high school physical education (PE). Direct relationships among autonomy support in PE, overall need satisfaction in PE, physical self-concept, and global self-esteem were tested in the model. The mediating roles of overall need satisfaction and physical self-concept were also tested. High school students (N = 1022) completed questionnaires pertaining to autonomy support, need satisfaction, physical self-concept, and global self-esteem. Results from structural equation modeling revealed a good fit of the data to the hypothesized model. In the structural model all direct associations were significant and overall need satisfaction fully mediated the relationships between autonomy support and physical self-concept and autonomy support and global self-esteem. Physical self-concept was a partial mediator in the relationship between overall need satisfaction and global self-esteem. The overall model accounted for 37% of the variance in urban adolescents' global self-esteem. BNT appears to be a solid framework to investigate domain-specific self-concepts of urban adolescents engaging in the physical education.