Dual processes to explain longitudinal gains in physical education students’ prosocial and antisocial behavior: Need satisfaction from autonomy support and need frustration from interpersonal control.

We used the dual-process model within the self-determination theory explanatory framework to explain how physical education (PE) teachers’ motivating styles and students’ psychological needs explain longitudinal changes in the prosocial and antisocial behavior PE students direct at their classmates. Using a longitudinal research design, 1,006 middle and high school students (55% female) from 32 different secondary school classrooms completed the same questionnaire at the beginning, middle, and end of a semester. Multilevel structural equation modeling analyses showed that early-semester perceived autonomy support predicted a midsemester increase in need satisfaction, which predicted a late-semester increase in prosocial behavior, and also that early-semester perceived teacher control predicted a midsemester increase in need frustration, which predicted a late-semester increase in antisocial behavior (i.e., dual-process effects). In addition, students’ early-semester high prosocial behavior and low antisocial behavior both predicted a midsemester increase in perceived teacher-provided autonomy support (i.e., reciprocal effects). Overall, these findings highlight the important longitudinal interdependencies among perceived PE teacher autonomy support, need satisfaction, and prosocial behavior as well as the important longitudinal interdependencies among perceived PE teacher control, need frustration, and antisocial behavior.