Do positive childhood experiences reduce children’s deviant behavior in physical education learning?—A longitudinal validation based on a latent variable growth model

In recent years, there has been a global decline in children’s interest in participating in physical education classes, a phenomenon that has garnered continuous attention in the fields of physical education and sports psychology yet lacks systematic micro-level exploration and analysis. This study employed a questionnaire survey to conduct three waves of longitudinal testing over 3 years with 284 Chinese children. Based on cognitive behavioral theory, a theoretical model was constructed, and latent variable growth modeling and cross-lagged regression were used to analyze the trends in positive childhood experiences and children’s deviant behavior in physical education learning, exploring the relationship between the development of positive childhood experiences and the development of children’s deviant behavior in physical education learning, as well as the temporal effects between positive childhood experiences and children’s deviant behavior in physical education learning. The results revealed that: (1) the impact of positive childhood experiences on children showed a linear increasing trend with age, while children’s deviant behavior in physical education learning showed a linear decreasing trend with age; (2) the initial level of positive childhood experiences negatively predicted the initial level (β = −0.255, p < 0.05) and the growth rate (β = −0.346, p < 0.05) of children’s deviant behavior in physical education learning; (3) the rate of decrease in positive childhood experiences significantly predicted the growth rate of children’s deviant behavior in physical education learning (β = −0.429, p < 0.05); (4) the impact of positive childhood experiences on children significantly negatively predicted deviant behavior in physical education learning 1 year later (βt1 = −0.152, p < 0.05; βt2 = −0.244, p < 0.05). This paper aims to provide theoretical references and some practical insights for preventing and addressing various potential issues in children’s physical education teaching.