Motivational Variables to Predict Autotelic Experience and Enjoyment of Students. Analysis in Function of Environment and Sports Practice

: The aim of this study was to ﬁnd out how self-determined motivation, Basic Psychological Needs (BPN) and the perception of support inﬂuence autonomy-predicted autotelic experience and enjoyment, and to analyse the di ﬀ erences depending on the geographical location of the centre and whether they lead to the practice of physical activity, extracurricular or not, of 271 learners in physical education from 10 to 12 years ( M = 10.94, SD = 0.73). The theoretical framework used was the Self-Determination Theory. The results showed that more self-determined motivation, the perception of support for autonomy and BPN positively predict both autotelic experience and enjoyment. Moreover, learners from urban areas have higher values in less self-determined forms of motivation and lower levels of perceived support for autonomy and BPN than learners from rural areas. Furthermore, students who carry out extracurricular physical activity had higher values in all variables compared to those who did not. It is essential to promote sport to students with more self-determined forms of motivation through the satisfaction of BPN, especially in students who do not do extracurricular physical activity and students in urban areas.


Introduction
Physical education (PE) in particular, as well as physical activity and sport in general, contributes to the physical, psychological and social development of individuals, while carrying many benefits for health, and also improving social well-being [1,2].
Those who have performed more physical activity at an early age demonstrate a tendency to continue sports throughout adulthood, unlike those who have led a more sedentary lifestyle [3]. Therefore, the important role played by physical activity is evident, and motivation in PE classes plays a decisive role in the concept, image and carrying out of physical activity outside of the school environment [4,5], for, as some authors indicate [6], the intention to carry out sports practices is related to satisfaction with PE classes.
Extracurricular physical activities are those which are carried out not only to reinforce, support or complement the academic performance of students, but also to improve their personal development, along with their health, values and free time [7].
The theoretical framework that supports this study is Self-Determination Theory (SDT), which aims to explain motivation and human behaviour within social contexts (in this case, PE classes). a positive and significant relationship between satisfaction in PE classes and the most self-determined motivation [6,38].
Liu et al. [39], observed that intrinsically motivated students are more likely to demonstrate high levels of physical activity. Given that Walhain et al. [40] found that children in urban areas achieved lower levels of physical activity than children in rural areas, this may be due to the fact that students in rural areas have a greater intrinsic motivation towards practice. However, Sember et al. [41] found the opposite result, observing that children in rural areas reached lower levels of physical activity than children in urban areas, which could be due to a lack of training in motivational strategies, as detected by Hardré [42] in several rural high schools.
If we turn our attention to the works that try to establish differences between the level of self-determined motivation of PE students in primary school, based on the practice of extracurricular physical activity [4,43], they reveal that students who practise extracurricular physical activity have more self-determined motivation in relation to those who do not. Brustio et al. [44] observed that the introduction of active recreation increased both the intrinsic motivation of students towards physical practice and enjoyment, which favoured the theory of relatedness. González-Cutre et al. [45] implemented a programme of extracurricular physical activity with contents linked to PE and observed a considerable increase in intrinsic motivation, perception of autonomy and enjoyment, which continued after the end of the intervention. They also found an improvement, although not significant, in the perception of competence. Likewise, Sánchez-Oliva et al. [46] showed that the motivation was more self-determined when the subjects carried out an extracurricular practice, and this resulted in more enjoyment, increasing the importance given to PE, as well as to more positive behaviour [47].
Thus, the objective was to find out how self-determined motivation, BPN and the perception of support for autonomy predicted the autotelic experience and enjoyment of students, as well as to analyse the differences between the perception of support for autonomy, self-determined forms of motivation, BPN of autonomy, competence and relatedness, autotelic experience, and finally enjoyment, depending on the geographic location of the centre and whether or not they partake in extracurricular physical activity.
Bearing in mind the results from the previously mentioned studies, two hypotheses were established. First of all, the highest levels of self-determined motivation, the perception of support for autonomy and the BPN will positively predict the autotelic experience and enjoyment of students. Secondly, students in rural areas and students who practise extracurricular physical activity will present higher values in the perception of support for autonomy, the most self-determined forms of motivation, BPN, autotelic experience and enjoyment, compared to students in urban areas and those who do not practise extracurricular physical activity.

Materials and Methods
All participants were treated in agreement with the ethical guidelines of the American Psychological Association with respect to participant assent, parental/guardian consent, confidentiality and anonymity. Moreover, informed written consent was obtained from the participants and their parents/guardians.

Design of the Study
The study carried out was non-experimental, in which the variables described above have not been altered or manipulated, with only what occurs with them under natural conditions having been observed [48]. Likewise, it is located within quantitative empirical studies and, within these, it refers to the descriptive study of populations through surveys [48].

Participants
The sample for this study was 271 subjects of both genders (132 male and 139 female), whose ages ranged from 10 to 12 years (M = 10.94; TD = 0.73). The sample belonged to a population of students of 5th and 6th grade from primary-education schools of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura. The participants were grouped according to geographical location (147 students from rural areas and 124 students from urban areas), considering rural areas as having a population of less than 10,000 inhabitants, and according to the practice of extracurricular physical activity (163 were practitioners and 108 did not practise extracurricular physical activity), with extracurricular physical activity considered as that which is done in free time, outside of school hours.
The type of sampling used to select the sample of this study was not intentionally randomised by clusters [49]. Each cluster was made up of approximately 23 students.

Instruments
The instruments used in this study, as well as the variables by which they are composed are as follows: • The Perceived Autonomy Support Scale for Exercise Settings (PASSES). To measure the support for autonomy from the teacher to the students in the PE classes, developed by Hagger et al. [50], translated into Spanish and validated in Spanish by Moreno-Murcia et al. [51]. This Scale consists of 12 items, which measure one factor: support for autonomy; • The Perceived Locus of Causality Scale in PE (PLOC). To measure the contextual motivation of students in PE classes. Developed by Goudas et al. [52], translated into Spanish and validated in Spanish by Moreno-Murcia, et al. [53]. It is composed of 20 items that are divided into five factors: intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation and amotivation; • Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale to Physical Education (BPNES). To measure the satisfaction of the three BPN (competence, autonomy and relatedness). Developed by Vlachopoulos et al. [54], translated into Spanish and validated in Spanish by Moreno-Murcia et al. [55]. It is composed of 12 items, which are divided into three factors: autonomy, competence and relatedness; • The Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS-2). This study employed the Spanish version created by González-Cutre et al. [56] of the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 by Jackson et al. [57]. The scale measured the propensity to experience flow in PE classes, yet only the items that measured the autotelic experience factor were used. Therefore, only the four items that measure this factor were used; • The Sport Satisfaction Instrument for PE classes (SSI-PE). To measure the degree of satisfaction of students in PE classes. Developed by Duda et al. [58], translated into Spanish and validated in Spanish by Baena-Extremera et al. [37]. It consists of eight items divided into two factors: satisfaction and boredom with PE classes, however only items (five items) that measured satisfaction/enjoyment with PE classes were used.
The answers to the items in each of the questionnaires were closed and given on a Likert Scale, with a response range of 0 to 10, in which 0 means that the student totally disagrees, and 10 that they totally agree with the statement of the item.

•
The measurement of the practice or not of an extracurricular physical activity. For this measurement, students were asked a question on the first page of the questionnaire dossier. The question asked was: "Do you carry out any kind of sports practice in addition to PE classes? "yes/no".

Process
Firstly, a dossier was created with the questionnaires that were going to be given to the students of this study. Subsequently, the educational centres were contacted to obtain their approval. After a period of time for collecting informed consent, certain days were established to collect the data through the questionnaires. The questionnaires were completed by the students in the PE classes, under the presence of the researcher and with the absence of the PE teacher, with an approximate time of 30-35 min to complete them. Before handing out the questionnaires, the researcher explained how they should be completed and resolved any doubts that had arisen, while insisting on anonymity, willingness and sincerity in the answers.

Data Analysis
First of all, the factor analysis and reliability analysis of each of the questionnaires used in the present investigation were completed in order to check their internal consistency.
In order to analyse reliability, two indices were used: Cronbach's Alpha (α) (equal to or greater than 0.70) [59], and Omega Coefficient (ω) [60], which also serves to check the internal consistency of the variables used in the investigation and, according to some authors [61], has shown evidence of greater accuracy. This means that in the McDonald's Omega Coefficient, the established range is between 0 and 1, with the highest values giving us the most reliable measurements [61]. With the Omega Coefficient of McDonald, the calculations were made with the "psych" 1.4.2.3 [62] of R 3.0.3 [63]. However, according to Campo-Arias et al. [64], to be considered an acceptable reliability value via the Omega Coefficient, this should be greater than 0.70.
A regression analysis was carried out in successive steps in order to check the predictive values of the independent variables: forms of self-determined motivation, BPN and perception of support for autonomy, on the dependent variables: autotelic experience and enjoyment. In order to include these variables, they were checked to make sure they were non-collinear using collinearity statistics (Tolerance and IVF).
A descriptive analysis and an ANOVA analysis were performed by geographical location and depending on the practice or non-practice of extracurricular physical activity.
To analyse the data obtained, the statistical program SPSS 20.0 was used.

Descriptive Statistics and Reliability Analysis
In Table 1, the descriptive statistics, averages and typical deviations, along with Cronbach's alpha, of the perception of support for autonomy, types of self-determined motivation, BPN, autotelic experience and enjoyment can be observed. The analysis of Cronbach's alpha revealed that only one factor of the SSI-PE questionnaire, boredom, was ruled out for presenting very low Cronbach's alpha values (0. 19). The rest of the factors of each of the variables were used in the analyses, where the alpha is equal to or greater than 0.70 [59], with the exception of factors for identified regulation (0.61), introjected regulation (0.63), external regulation (0.69) and competence (0.69), as, due to the small number of items that make up the factor, its internal consistency may be marginally accepted [65]. In the analysis of the Omega Coefficient, all factors presented adequate values [61], and all above 0.70 [64]. Greater

Regression Analysis
As seen in Table 2, the autotelic experience has been predicted by a total explained variance of 64%. The most predicted factor was intrinsic motivation, with 40% of the variance explained. In the second step, in which 52% of the explained variance is explained, the competence BPN appeared as a predictor variable, with 12% of the explained variance. The third step contained 59% of the explained variance, the perception of support for autonomy appearing as a predictor variable, with 0.74% of the explained variance. The fourth step explained 62% of the variance, and with negative motivation appearing as the predictive variable, 0.23% of the variance was explained. The fifth step explained 63% of the variance, with the autonomy BPN appearing as the last predictor variable, with 0.17% of the variance explained. Finally, the sixth step explained in 64% the variance, with the BPN of relation with others appearing as the last predictor variable, with 0.1% of the variance explained. As can be seen in Table 3, enjoyment has been predicted by a total explained variance of 53%. The factor that most predicted the dependent variable has been the perception of support for autonomy, with 36% of the variance explained. In the second step, it explained 48% of the explained variance, the intrinsic motivation appearing as a predictor variable, with 12% of the explained variance. The third step contained 51% of the explained variance, the competence BPN appearing as a predictor variable, with 0.3% of the explained variance. The fourth step explained 52% of the variance, the autonomy BPN appearing as a predictor variable, with 0.1% of the variance explained. Finally, the fifth step explained the variance by 53%, with the introjected regulation as a last predictor variable, with 0.1% of the variance explained.

Variance Analysis
In order to identify the differences depending on geographical location and the practice or not of extracurricular physical activity by students, an ANOVA was carried out for each of the two factors.

Discussion
For teachers, it is particularly interesting to know the motivational processes that occur in PE classes, in order to establish the appropriate methodological guidelines to achieve an optimal teaching-learning process with students in the classroom. Following on from this, the discussion will be based on the two hypotheses raised. The first hypothesis determined that the highest levels of self-determined motivation, the perception of support for autonomy and the BPN, will positively predict the autotelic experience and enjoyment of students.
From the data obtained from the regression analysis to predict autotelic experience, it can be concluded that higher levels of self-determined motivation, the perception of support for autonomy and BPN, positively predict the autotelic experience, so the hypothesis is fulfilled and supports the Vallerand model [14,15]. These results coincide with previous research, such as that of Lopera et al. [27], where it was determined that there is an extreme relationship between intrinsic motivation and autotelic experience in children who play football. In relation to BPN, Alp et al. [66], affirmed the relationship between the BPN and the autotelic experience in secondary school students. Regarding the perception of support for autonomy, Ada et al. [19], determined that autonomy is not an element of dispositional flow, however, they also determined it as a predictive factor in PE students.
It was observed that intrinsic motivation is the variable that predicts autotelic experience the most, then the BPN of competence and motivation, which predicted it in a negative way. It is logical that those students who present a more self-determined motivation, that is, who feel more identified and involved in the activities to be carried out, and who also present satisfaction of the BPN, give rise to an autotelic experience at the time of performing the exercises, that is to say, that they feel that these students carry out the activity for mere pleasure. All this, together with higher levels of perception of support for autonomy, as the results support, would increase the likelihood of such an autotelic experience.
Hence, it is necessary for teachers to give students opportunities to carry out activities autonomously, and in turn, carry out original and entertaining classes to encourage greater self-determined motivation in their pupils. Therefore, it is obvious that teachers must avoid monotony in their classes and from a direct or authoritarian style. For example, students could propose variants in the activities, always supervised and guided by the teacher, so that they improve their autonomy and competence BPN, as well as proposing cooperative exercises, where the BPN is improved in relation to others. However, for the improvement in these BPN the teacher must always take into account the individualised level of each of the students, adapting the activities and exercises to their personal characteristics.
From the data obtained in the regression analysis to predict enjoyment, it can be deduced that higher levels of self-determined motivation, perception of support for autonomy, and satisfaction of the BPN of competence and autonomy, positively predict enjoyment, therefore the hypothesis is fulfilled and the Vallerand model is answered again [14,15]. These results co-exist with previous studies, such as those of Trigueros-Ramos et al. [67], where support for teacher autonomy positively predicted enjoyment. Studies such as those by De Meyer et al. [35] and Santurio et al. [68], also demonstrated a positive relationship between the BPN and intrinsic motivation with enjoyment. Both studies were developed in PE classes.
These results are similar to those which were obtained with autotelic experience. In the case of enjoyment, the perception of support for autonomy is the variable that predicts the most, followed by intrinsic motivation and the BPN of competence and autonomy. If students feel that the teacher provides them with a space where they can give their opinion and act when carrying out the activities, they will feel more involved, causing a greater state of fun. This is the same for the BPN of competence and autonomy. If students propose activities and also feel that they have resources to make these proposals, they will be more likely to have fun in PE classes. However, in this analysis the BPN is not present in relation to others, contrary to what happened with autotelic experience. This can be explained by the fact that there are students who do not need to establish links with others, as it is the sport itself that provides enjoyment.
The second hypothesis determined that students in rural areas and students who practise extracurricular physical activity will present higher values in the perception of support for autonomy, the most self-determined forms of motivation, BPN, autotelic experience and enjoyment, compared to students in urban areas and those who do not practise extracurricular physical activity.
This hypothesis can be determined as fulfilled, as, according to the results obtained, students in rural areas presented significantly higher values in the variable described in the hypothesis supporting autonomy; they also presented higher values in the BPN variables of autonomy, competence and relatedness, as well as in autotelic experience. However, students in urban areas presented higher values in the most self-determined forms of motivation and enjoyment.
Hernandez-Huayta et al. [69] observed a higher support for autonomy and greater satisfaction of the BPN of relatedness in the adult population of rural areas with respect to urban areas. Sørensen [70] found, in the rural population, greater satisfaction with life in relation to the urban population, which was partly explained by a greater satisfaction of the BPN of relatedness. Likewise, and in line with the hypothesis raised, Leyton et al. [71], in a sample between the ages of 18 and 65, found higher values in the most self-determined forms of motivation and reasons for practice in rural areas, as opposed to urban areas. However, unlike in the present study, Alejo et al. [72] found no differences in the motivational profile of students in urban and rural schools regarding foreign language learning, although the former showed lower levels of anxiety with respect to the latter.
The support for the BPN of autonomy, competence and relatedness is considered to be important, as it is a fundamental pillar for increasing the most self-determined forms of motivation [45] both in rural and urban areas. Therefore, it is essential that PE teachers use strategies that encourage BPN, such as allowing a choice of tasks to support autonomy, defining different levels within an activity to support competence, as well as encouraging different groupings to support relatedness. In addition, and as was shown in the results of the present study, teachers in urban areas would have to insist more on exercises or activities where their students can increase their BPN levels, with the aim of improving their autotelic experience and levels of enjoyment, and achieve more self-determined motivation.
Another hypothesis was that students who did extracurricular physical activity would present higher values in their perception of support for autonomy, in the most self-determined forms of motivation, BPN, autotelic experience and enjoyment, than those who did not practise extracurricular physical activity. Thanks to the results obtained, it can be affirmed that this hypothesis has been fulfilled. The results showed that those students who practised extracurricular physical activity presented higher and more significant levels in their perception of support for autonomy, intrinsic motivation, BPN autonomy, competence and relatedness, and autotelic experience, in relation to those students who did not practise extracurricular physical activity. They also presented higher values for enjoyment.
These results are analogous with those of several investigations that show that, when carrying out extracurricular physical activities, higher levels of self-determined motivation [73,74], improvement of the BPN [75], enjoyment [76], levels of activity [77] and autotelic experience [78] are observed.
Sevil et al. [79] noted that support for autonomy by family, peers and PE teachers predicted, in a significant and positive way, the satisfaction of the BPN and the autonomous motivation for the practice of physical activity in leisure time, as well as the intention of practising it and activity levels. This is similar to the results of the present study, where students who practise physical activity outside of school hours show higher levels of support for autonomy and BPN, as well as a more self-determined motivation.
A limitation of the present investigation has been the use of questionnaires as the only research instrument, as well as not having made comparisons by age or gender, nor intervention in the classroom. Therefore, an analysis of the variables studied by age groups and gender is recommended to study the differences, using additional instruments to complement the information collected, such as an interview. Likewise, it would be interesting to apply support programmes to the variables studied both in rural and urban settings, in PE and in extracurricular physical activity, observing their evolution through a longitudinal study.
It is worth highlighting that currently there are no research projects that analyse the difference in the variables studied according to geographical location and the practice or non-practice of extracurricular physical activity. Therefore, it is considered relevant to deepen this incipient line of research, through a longitudinal intervention study, with the objective of carrying out specific strategies and thus favouring adherence to the physical practice of students, both in rural and urban areas. Hence, the findings of the present study are most important.

Conclusions
In conclusion, the most self-determined forms of motivation, the perception of support for autonomy and the BPN positively predict the autotelic experience and enjoyment in physical education classes. Furthermore, an increase in the satisfaction of BPN and the perception of support for autonomy in students aged 10 to 12 in urban populations and in students who do not practise extracurricular physical activity can cause an increase in more self-determined motivation, which leads to an increase in the autotelic experience and enjoyment of students in PE classes. All of this will facilitate the continuation of physical and sporting activity, with the consequent benefits that come from increasing the practice of physical activity outside of curricular hours.

Funding:
This study was possible thanks to the contribution of the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure of the Council of Extremadura, through the European Regional Development Fund. A way to make Europe. (GR18129). We would like to specify that the financial assistance is only for the Professor Ruth Jiménez Castuera.