Perceived teacher’s support and engagement among students with obesity in physical education: The mediating role of basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation

Grounded in self-determination theory, this cross-sectional study aims to explore the multiple mediating roles of perceived teachers’ support for students with obesity and their engagement in physical education. The study included 322 Chinese high school students with obesity (mean age, 16.84 [±0.147] years; 219 [68%] male, 103 [32%] female). Mplus 8.3 software was used to test the multiple mediating effects. After controlling for grade and gender, teacher support was found to neither directly affect students’ engagement nor directly stimulate their autonomous motivation; however, it could affect their engagement through the two pathways of 1) basic psychological needs and 2) the chain mediation of basic psychological needs and autonomous motivation. Results suggest that not all teacher support, but only teacher support meeting students’ basic psychological needs, can promote engagement in PE by students with obesity. Future research should explore strategies according to the physical and mental characteristics of students with obesity, to enrich and innovate the theoretical system of teacher support in physical education. Furthermore, teacher support interventions to promote engagement among students with obesity should be developed.