MODELING THE RELATION OF GOAL ORIENTATIONS TO ACHIEVEMENT-RELATED AFFECT IN PHYSICAL-EDUCATION - DOES PERCEIVED ABILITY MATTER

This study investigated likely determinants of achievement-related aff ect in physical education. In particular, interrelationships were exam ined between achievement goal orientations, success perceptions, perso nalty controllable attributions, and achievement-related affect based on data collected from 1,070 British students aged 11-16 years. A posi tive association emerged between task orientation and success percepti on, but not between ego orientation and success perception. In additio n, perceived success positively influenced personally controllable att ributions and positive affect, but had no effect on negative emotion. Furthermore, personally controllable attributions augmented positive e motion and minimized negative affect. Perceived ability moderated the relation between ego orientation and personally controllable attributi ons. Hence, under the low perceived ability condition, ego orientation was associated with personally uncontrollable attributions, but the o pposite was true for the high perceived ability group. An enhancement of both task orientation and perceived athletic competence is needed f or adolescents to derive positive affective experiences from physical education.