ORIGINAL ARTICLE  PSYCHOLOGY 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2021 February;61(2):310-6

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.11461-0

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Interpersonal motivating style, basic psychological needs and reasons for fitness practice

Juan A. MORENO-MURCIA ¹, Fernanda BORGES-SILVA ² ✉

¹ Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Alicante, Spain; ² Faculty of Sports, Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM), Guadalupe, Murcia, Spain

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to check the relationship between the teacher’s interpersonal style with the basic psychological needs and the reasons for practice in fitness.
METHODS: We use a sample of 701 people (250 men and 451 women) fitness people (M=32.80, DT=10.97). The instructor’s interpersonal style (support autonomy and controller style), the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and the reasons for practice were measured.
RESULTS: The interpersonal style of autonomy support was much more valued than the controller style. The most valued practice reasons were health, ability, and image. After the linear regression analysis, it was observed that the basic psychological needs positively predicted the interpersonal style of autonomy support and negatively the controller style. In the same way, the reason for practicing health and ability predicted the interpersonal style of support autonomy, and social recognition in a negative way. While the reason for practicing social recognition was the only factor that predicted the controller interpersonal style.
CONCLUSIONS: The results support that the most self-determined practices are associated with support autonomy in fitness.

KEY WORDS: Sports; Psychology; Exercise