Economic status as a predictor of motivational and affective experiences in physical education and physical activity intentions: a cross-sectional study in six European countries

Lower economic status (ES) is associated with a less adaptive experience of school and physical activity. However, empirical evidence supporting the detrimental association of lower ES on the affective and motivational experience in Physical Education (PE) remains scarce. Using a large sample (N = 10392) of adolescents from six countries (i.e., Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, England, Turkey), this cross-sectional study tested whether students’ family ES was associated with the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs in PE, and in turn with motivational and affective outcomes in PE and their out-of-school physical activity intention. Our secondary objective was to test whether these potential associations differed between countries. We further explored whether gender moderated the abovementioned relationship. After testing for measurement invariance of the different scales across countries, multigroup structural equation modelling showed that, in five of six countries (i.e., Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, England), a lower ES was associated with lower basic needs satisfaction with a small effect size ( = .10, p < .001), which in turn was associated with lower enjoyment ( = .75, p < .001), lower autonomous motivation ( = .83, p < .001), and weaker out-of-school physical activity intention (p < .001,  = .36), higher displeasure ( = -.51, p < .001), higher controlled motivation ( = -19, p < .001) and stronger amotivation in PE ( = -.28, p < .001). Additional analyses indicate that basic psychological needs mediated the relationship between ES and motivational and affective experiences. Exploratory analyses suggested that the relationship between lower ES and the less adaptative motivational and affective outcomes was amplified among girls. At the crossroad between psychology and sociology, this study provides new insights into how family lower ES and gender might interact to predict less adaptative motivational and affective experiences and outcomes in PE.