Predicting students’ intention to continue physical activity and dropout intention in elementary school students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between basic psychological needs with intention to continue physical activity and dropout intention in students. Two hundred students (female = 105) in the fifth and sixth grade participated in this study. Basic psychological need satisfaction and need frustration scale, intention to continue physical activity and drop out intention were used. Findings showed that students’ intention to continue physical activity related positively to their general need satisfaction (r = 0.4, p<0.01), autonomy (r = 0.44, p<0.01), competence (r = 0.40, p<0.01), and relatedness (r = 0.26, p<0.01). Also, students’ intention to continue physical activity related negatively to their general need frustration (r = -0.30, p<0.01 ), autonomy (r = -0.34, p<0.01 ), competence (r = -0.24, p<0.01), and relatedness (r = -0.16, p<0.01). The results of structural equation modeling showed that only need satisfaction predicted positively intention to continue physical activity and negatively predicted dropout intention. Therefore, it can be concluded that students’ need satisfaction contribute to their intention to continue physical activity in future, and diminish their dropout intention in physical education programs.