Factors influencing flow experiences of adolescents during physical education

Only 10 to 17% of adolescent girls and boys meet the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) for physical activity behavior. Students' intrinsic motivation for physical exercise tends to decline from the age of 12 onwards. Physical Education (P.E.) lessons can potentially enhance positive emotions and flow experiences through bodily activity and therewith increase students' physical activity behavior outside the school setting. However, it is still unclear which variables may influence the frequency of students' flow experiences (dispositional flow) in P.E. lessons. This study examined the association between various independent variables and dispositional flow in 511 P.E. students at three different schools in Germany. The students answered an adapted version of Rheinberg's Flow short-scale (FKS) questionnaire. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the data. The results show a decline of flow experiences with increasing age of the students (p < 0.05; ß = - 0.003), boys experienced flow significantly more often than girls (95% - CI (-0.22;-0.05), t(477) = -3.22, p < 0.01). Competence (p < 0.001; ß = 0.21), the presentation of clear goals during lessons (p < 0.001; ß = 0.15), varying lesson contents (p < 0.001; ß = 0.14), a sense of belongingness experienced by students (p < 0.001; ß = 0.13), praise through the P.E. ... mehrteacher (p < 0.01; ß = 0.06) and the feeling of being accepted by the P.E. teacher (p < 0.05; ß = 0.06) were positively associated with dispositional flow. A significant association between the frequency of flow experiences during P.E. and students' perceptions of self-determination and individually appropriate levels of difficulty could not be confirmed.