Perceptions of Teachers’ Interpersonal Styles and Well-Being and Ill-Being in Secondary School Physical Education Students: The Role of Need Satisfaction and Need Frustration

This study examined the associations among physical education students’ perceptions of their teachers’ autonomy-supportive and controlling interpersonal styles, need satisfaction and need frustration, and indices of psychological well-being (subjective vitality) and ill-being (negative affect). The results from 591 Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong indicated that the relationship between students’ perceptions of autonomy-supportive teaching behaviors and subjective vitality was primarily mediated by need satisfaction, whereas the relationship between perceived controlling teaching behaviors and negative affect was primarily mediated by need frustration. The results obtained from the multi-group structural equation model also suggested that these relationships were invariant across sex.