Investigating the relationships between perceived mattering, role stress, and psychological need satisfaction in physical education teachers

Despite being linked with motivationally supportive instruction, little research has investigated antecedents to physical educators' psychological need satisfaction. This study examined relationships between physical educators' perceived mattering, role stress, and psychological need satisfaction. Method: The participants included 472 in-service physical educators (232 males and 240 females) from the eastern United States who completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate a conceptual model detailing the relationships among study variables. Results: The conceptual model was a good fit for the data, χ2 (358) = 657.16, p < .001, root mean square error of approximation = .042 (90% confidence interval [.037, .047], p = .996), standardized root mean residual = .051, nonnormalized fit index = .949, comparative fit index = .955. Generally, perceived mattering influenced role ambiguity and relatedness satisfaction. Role overload and role ambiguity are negatively associated with competence satisfaction, and role conflict is negatively associated with autonomy satisfaction. Discussion: The findings indicate that elevating physical education teachers' perceived mattering may reduce role stress and increase psychological need satisfaction.