Autonomy-supportive physical education, harmonious passion, and mental health in adolescent girls during COVID-19

Background & Aims: A crucial issue for the health of children and adolescents is understanding how to boost their level of physical activity during the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic has limited opportunities for engaging in physical activity, even for activities that students find enjoyable....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Solmaz Babaei, Masoumeh Parvaneh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Urmia University of Medical Sciences 2025-04-01
Series:Journal of Research in Applied and Basic Medical Sciences
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Online Access:http://ijrabms.umsu.ac.ir/article-1-382-en.pdf
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Summary:Background & Aims: A crucial issue for the health of children and adolescents is understanding how to boost their level of physical activity during the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic has limited opportunities for engaging in physical activity, even for activities that students find enjoyable. Materials & Methods: This study investigates students’ autonomy in sports to foster harmonious passion for physical activity and mental health. Self-determination theory was used as the theoretical framework. A total of 236 female students (Mage = 15.36) participated in a 16-week research project. Samples were randomly divided into an autonomy-support group and a control group. Results: The results showed that the experimental group had more harmonious passion (p < 0.05). They also reported more physical activity, less loneliness, and greater mental vitality (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Physical education based on autonomy support during the COVID-19 pandemic was effective in fostering harmonious passion for physical activity and reducing the negative psychological consequences of virus outbreaks.
ISSN:2717-0098