Journal of Happiness Studies (2021) 22:1643–1655

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00289-7

RESEARCH PAPER

Happiness in Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Examination

of Children Motivation and Negative Affect in Physical
Activity

Sebastiano Costa1,2   · Antonino Bianco1 · Valentina Polizzi3 · Marianna Alesi1

Published online: 9 July 2020

© Springer Nature B.V. 2020

Abstract
Physical activity has beneficial effects on health and is extremely recommended for chil-
dren’s well-being. Understanding risk factors that could cause negative affect in children
practicing physical activity is hugely relevant, and there is a growing consensus that auton-
omous and controlled motivation in the self-determination theory (SDT) framework could
offer a broader perspective. Consequently, this study aims to examine the longitudinal rela-
tions between autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and negative affect in physi-
cal activity, using a sample of children that regularly participate in physical activity. One
hundred forty children in the range age between 7 and 11 (M = 8.45, SD = 0.93) that regu-
larly participated in physical activity completed a battery of questionnaires at two times.
Results of the cross-lagged structural model showed that controlled motivation at T1 posi-
tively predicts negative affect in physical activity at T2. Overall, the results of this study
support the hypotheses based on the SDT framework regarding the role of motivation to
predict affects in the physical activity context.

Keywords  Physical activity · Negative affect · Children · Well-being · Self-determination

theory

1 Introduction

In recent years, a growing interest in well-being and affective enjoyment in children has
been raised (Jovanović et al. 2019; Tomyn et al. 2017). Physical activity and exercise have
received increasing attention (Zhang and Chen 2018) for the well-documented influences
not only on happiness and psychological health, but also on cognitive functioning and

* Sebastiano Costa
sebastiano.costa@unicampania.it
1
Dipartimento di Scienze Psicologiche, Pedagogiche, dell’Esercizio Fisico e della Formazione,
Università degli Studi Di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi Della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Caserta,
Italy
3
Centro Universitario Sportivo (CUS) Palermo, Palermo, Italy

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 1644 S. Costa et al.

physical health (Diamond 2015; Poitras et  al. 2016; Sibley and Etnier 2003; Zhang and
Chen 2018). Physical activity and exercise are positively related to lower levels of adipos-
ity and better cardiometabolic health (Saunders et al. 2016). Moreover, regular and struc-
tured sports activities revealed to be efficacious in improving executive functions, such as
inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning (Alesi et al. 2016).
Overall, physical activity and exercise are considered essential for the well-being and psy-
chological health in developmental age (Zhang and Chen 2018; Park and Wang 2018).
Specifically, results showed that physical activity and sport participation were negatively
correlated with depressive and anxiety symptoms and positively correlated with well-being
(McMahon et  al. 2017) with increased levels of self-worth and self-concept (Liu et  al.
2015).
Nevertheless, International guidelines suggest that children should do, on average, at
least 60  min of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity daily (Janssen and LeB-
lanc 2010). Despite the guidelines and suggestions for health, Global Health Observatory
(WHO 2013) reported that over 70% of children do not meet these recommendations and
are insufficiently physically active. Health benefit is not synonymous with enjoyable and
fun, and several studies reported that a high percentage of children disengage and drop-
out from physical activity and sport participation (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012;
Patriksson 1988). Furthermore, significant declining participation in physical activity from
childhood to adolescence has been rated (Balish et al. 2014; Riddoch et al. 2004). For this
reason, understanding risk factors that could cause negative affect in children practising
physical activity and exercise is extremely important to discourage this trend. Negative
affect usually plays a central role concerning participation in the activity (Ntoumanis and
Biddle 1999). In this thematic area, negative affect can be described as the negative self-
reported experience in the context of physical activity and exercise (Reed and Ones 2006).
Negative affect represents a classic topic of happiness studies (Bradburn 1969; Pinquart
2001; Zhang and Chen 2018) and "has been conceptualized as a dimension of subjective
distress and unpleasant engagement" (Watson et  al. 1988, p. 1063) that includes differ-
ent feelings and self-reportable states such as dissatisfied, distresses, boredom, frustration,
annoyed, and nervousness (Larsen and Diener 1987; Kercher 1992; Watson and Clark
1984; Watson and Clark 1999; Watson 1988; Watson et al. 1988).
Individuals who experience negative affect in physical activity tend to reduce their phys-
ical activity and are less physically active than individuals with positive affects (Schneider
et al. 2009). Nelson et al. (2009) also showed that negative affect toward physical activity
negatively predicts self-reported physical activity, even after controlling for positive affect.
Negative experiences in physical activities and sports practices during childhood tend to be
related to a decrease in physical activity later in life (Cardinal et al. 2013). It is, therefore,
clears the need to deepen the factors that obstacle the implementation of specific interven-
tion programs targeted to prevent children’s physical activity drop-out. There is a growing
consensus that motivational aspects are primarily related to physical activity, exercise, and
a healthy lifestyle (Ng et  al. 2012). However, there is a lack of studies that deepen the
relationship between the motivation to exercise and negative affect in the specific exercise
field. Furthermore, Self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan and Deci 2017) offers a broader
perspective on human motivation for examining potential determinants of physical activity.
SDT is a comprehensive macro-theory of human motivation throughout the lifespan that
has wide application in several contexts of human functioning (Ryan and Deci 2017). SDT
conceptualizes six different types of motivation along a continuum based on the regula-
tion and the degree of self-determination (amotivation, external regulation, introjection,
identification, integration, and intrinsic regulation) that could be classified in two main

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Happiness in Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Examination… 1645

categories such as controlled and autonomous motivation (Ryan and Deci 2017). Autono-
mous forms of motivation are characterized by motives to engage in behaviours that come
mainly from internal sources and include intrinsic motivation, integrated regulation, and
identified regulation. Intrinsic motivation refers to behaviours that are performed for per-
sonal enjoyment, curiosity, challenge, satisfaction, and interest. Integrated regulation
refers to behaviours that are aligned with personal values and are integrated with other
aspects of the self. Identified regulation refers to behaviours that are personally relevant
and accepted for their underlying beneficial value, although not totally intrinsically moti-
vated. Controlled forms of motivation are characterized by motives to engage in behaviours
aimed to obtain some external results and to conform to some external sources and include
regulations with lower level of perceived autonomy. Introjected regulation refers to behav-
iours that are conducted by internal control or pressures as an act to avoid shame and guilt.
External regulation refers to behaviours that are conducted by the push to obtain a reward
or avoid punishments. Amotivation refers to behaviours that are conducted with a lack of
the intention to behave or without interest in the activity and it is considered the regulation
with the least amount of autonomy in the same continuum (Sheldon et al. 2017).
SDT showed that autonomous motivated behaviors tend to be maintained longer and to
be engaged more frequently than controlled motivated behaviours; autonomous motivation
is also associated with beneficial and healthy outcomes whereas controlled forms of moti-
vation tend to be related to healthy risky behaviours and maladjustment (Ryan and Deci
2017). Previous studies have shown that autonomous motivation is positively associated to
prosocial behaviors (Hodge and Gucciardi 2015; Weinstein and Ryan 2010), consumption
of alcohol responsibly (Hagger et al. 2012), fruit and vegetable intake (McSpadden et al.
2016). On the other side, controlled motivation is positively associated with disordered
eating behaviours (Eisenberg et al. 2016), antisocial attitudes and behaviours (Hodge and
Gucciardi 2015; Ntoumanis and Standage 2009).
In the physical activity domain, several studies using SDT (Owen et al. 2014; Teixeira
et al. 2012) have shown that autonomous motivation is positively related to exercise and
physical activity frequency, while controlled motivation tends to be unrelated or contrary
associated with physical activity. Studies on adults and adolescents have shown that indi-
viduals practicing exercise with controlling forms of motivation generally obtain less posi-
tive and more negative affect, and they exercise less regularly than individuals that have
autonomous forms of motivation (Frederick and Ryan 1993; Ntoumanis 2005; Puente and
Anshel 2010). The comprehension of exercise-related affect using SDT is very relevant
because negative affect in physical activity and motivational variables have a relevant role
for the participation and drop-out in physical activity (Pridgeon and Grogan 2012; Vla-
chopoulos and Neikou 2007; Wilson et  al. 2009) that are critical points in youngest age
groups. Despite the interest in understanding children’s physical activity and exercise from
an early age, only a few studies have examined the association of SDT-variables in chil-
dren, and most of them focus exclusively physical activity levels (Sebire et al. 2013; Owen
et al. 2014). In a meta-analysis, Owen et al. (2014) showed that for both adolescents and
children, physical activity levels were more strongly associated with the autonomous form
of motivation than controlled forms but reporting as a limitation that only three studies
were based on children. Specifically, using a cross-sectional design, Sebire et  al. (2013)
have shown a positive association between intrinsic motivation and frequency of physical
activity in children of an age range between 7 and 11. A similar result was shown by Biddle
and Armstrong (1992) in children of 11/12 years old with the intrinsic motivation that was
significantly positively correlated with physical activity. Furthermore, Ha and Ng (2015)
also reported a central role of the autonomous motivation in the reduction of sedentary

13
 1646 S. Costa et al.

behaviours, and the promotion of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and health-related

quality of life in children from primary and secondary schools.
The universalistic assumptions of SDT (Ryan and Deci 2017) indicate the children’s
consistency of the association, already studied in samples of adults and adolescents,
between autonomous and controlled forms of motivation and negative affect. However,
cannot be excluded that at different life stages certain forms of motivation may be more
relevant than others; for example, it is likely that for children, exercise could always be a
pleasure activity even in the case of external motivation and, as a consequence, it could not
lead to negative feelings and affects (Sebire et al. 2013). It seems to be essential to extend
this line of research in children, considering the benefits of exercise and physical activity
during the early stage of development. Furthermore, most of the studies (Owen et al. 2014;
Teixeira et  al. 2012) that examine autonomous and controlled motivation in the exercise
and physical activity context employed cross-sectional designs, thus the use of longitudinal
design is strongly recommended (Owen et al. 2014).
For these reasons, the present study aims to examine the longitudinal relations between
autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and negative affect in physical activity,
using a sample of children that regularly participate in physical activity. Following SDT,
it is hypothesized that: (a) controlled motivation in physical activity would have a positive
cross-lagged effect on negative affect in physical activity, (b) autonomous motivation in
physical activity would have a negative cross-lagged effect on negative affect in physical
activity, (c) negative affect in physical activity would have a weaker cross-lagged effect
on autonomous and controlled motivation than the corresponding cross-lagged effects in
opposite direction.

2 Method

2.1 Participants and Procedure

One hundred and forty (140) children (76 Male, and 64 Female) in a range age between
7 and 11 (M = 8.45, SD = 0.93) that regularly participated to physical activity in Italy,
for at least one hour for twice a week at both periods, were took part to this study. Chil-
dren conducted several types of physical activities, most of them played football (19%),
other activities more practiced were track and field (12%), swimming (12%), and dance
(9%), while the other activities, such as volleyball, basketball, handball, aerobics, mar-
tial arts, and fencing were less practiced. In line with the Declaration of Helsinki ethical
standards, participation was voluntary, and responses to the questionnaires confidential.
The Ethics Committee Board approved the protocol of the Centre for Research and Psy-
chological Intervention (CERIP) of the University of Messina. Participants were found
in schools and local sports associations that provided their adhesion to the research pro-
ject. Parents of children interested to participate in the research project took part in a
preliminary meeting to receive the information about the research details. Subsequently,
informed consent signed by both parents (or legal guardians) and by the child participat-
ing in the research were collected. In line with the Italian legislation about sport and
physical activity participation, a copy of the certification of suitability for non-com-
petitive sports was also request as inclusion criteria. Finally, only children that were
engaged in physical activity at both periods for at least one hour for twice a week in an
age range between 7 and 11  years could participate in the research. Exclusion criteria

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Happiness in Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Examination… 1647

for the research foresee the presence of neurodevelopmental disorders or specific motor
disabilities. The first data collection (T1) was between the end of November and the
beginning of December; after five months (end of April–beginning of May), the sec-
ond data collection was conducted (T2). After the first data collection (T1), 13% of the
participant did not complete the second data collection (T2) and were dropped from the
research. Questionnaires were administered in a small group (4–5 children) under the
supervision of a researcher in a quiet room.

2.2 Measures

Controlling and Autonomous Motivations were measured by a modified version of the

Behavioural Regulation in Sport Scale (BRSQ; Lonsdale et al. 2008). It consisted in a
24-item questionnaire that measures the regulation continuum using a 5-point Likert
scale from 1 (not at all true) to 5 (very true). In this study, Controlled Motivation (12
items, e.g. I participate in my physical activity because I feel pressured)  is composed
of the aggregation of the subscale of amotivation, external regulation, and introjected
regulation, while  Autonomous Motivation (12 items, e.g. I participate in my physical
activity because I enjoy it) is composed of the aggregation of the subscale of identified
regulation, integrated regulation, and intrinsic motivation.  Previous studies had well-
documented the good psychometrics characteristics of the BRSQ (Assor et  al. 2009;
Lonsdale et al. 2008), and in this study, a good level of reliability was showed (Table 1).
Negative Affect in physical activity was measured by a modified version of the Enjoy-
ment for physically exercise subscale of the Social-Cognitive Measures for Physical
Activity (SCM; Dishman et  al. 2010). It was composed by an introductive sentence
"when I do physical activity…", and by the five following items in a 5-point Likert scale
from 1 (disagree a lot) to 5 (agree a lot): "I feel bored", “I dislike it”, “It is not fun at
all”, “It frustrates me”, “It is not at all interesting”. This scale was previously used as
a measure of affectivity in physical education, supporting the psychometric properties
(Dishman et al. 2010; Dewar et al. 2013, 2012; Robbins et al. 2017) and in this study, it
showed a good level of reliability (Table 1).
All measures were obtained by previous translation from English to Italian and then
by back-translation from Italian into English to ensure maximum linguistic and cultural
coherence among the two versions. All of the measures were translated into the Italian
language with the authors’ permission.

Table 1  Descriptive and Correlations Matrix of observed variables

M SD α 1 2 3 4 5

1. Controlled motivation T1 2.11 .76 .78 – – – – –

2. Controlled motivation T2 1.99 .75 .80 .52** – – – –
3. Autonomous motivation T1 4.15 .54 .72 − .11 − .22* – – –
4. Autonomous motivation T2 4.08 .61 .79 − .09 − .18* .36** – –
5. Negative affect in Physical Activity T1 1.30 .66 .82 .16 .06 − .10 − .12 –
6. Negative Affect in Physical Activity T2 1.40 .72 .84 .20* .36** .01 − .36** .29**

N = 140; *p < .05, **p < .01

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 1648 S. Costa et al.

2.3 Data Plan

In the first step as a precondition for the cross-lagged model, measurement invariances
across the two-time points were tested. A series of CFA models for each variable were con-
ducted to test longitudinal configural invariance (same factor structure across T1 and T2),
metric invariance (same factor loading across T1 and T2). A decrease of .01 or higher in
R-CFI was used as criteria of worse specification (Cheung and Rensvold 2002). The three
dimensions of introject motivation, external motivation, and amotivation were used as indi-
cators for the latent variable controlled motivation, the three dimensions of integrated moti-
vation, identified motivation, and intrinsic motivation, were used as indicators autonomous
motivation and three parcels composed of aggregate items were used as indicators of nega-
tive affect in physical activity. In a second step, the overall measurement model was tested
allowing the six latent variables of this study (controlled motivation at T1, controlled moti-
vation at T2, autonomous motivation at T1, autonomous motivation at T2, negative affect
in physical activity at T1, negative affect in physical activity at T2) to covary each other,
and residual errors of each indicator of the same variable measured across the two-time
points were also specified to covary over time. Finally, the cross-lagged structural model
was tested, including the latent variables for controlled motivation, autonomous motiva-
tion, and negative affect in physical activity at both measurement times (T1 and T2). The
cross-lagged model hypothesized is defined by the paths from the three latent variables at
T1 (controlled motivation, autonomous motivation, and negative affect in physical activity)
to all the same three latent variables at T2 (controlled motivation, autonomous motivation,
and negative affect in physical activity). Controlled motivation at T1, autonomous motiva-
tion at T1, and negative affect in physical activity at T1 were allowed to correlate each
other’s, and in the same way, controlled motivation at T2, autonomous motivation at T2,
and negative affect in physical activity at T2 were allowed to correlate. Finally, similarly to
the measurement model, residual errors of each indicator of the latent variables measured
across the two-time points were also specified to covary across the two-time points.

3 Results

3.1 Descriptive, Correlations and Model Estimation

Correlation coefficients and descriptive statistics of the study variables at T1 and T2 are
presented in Table 1. Correlations among the study variables were in line with the hypothe-
ses. Controlled motivation at T1 is positively related to controlled motivation at T2, auton-
omous motivation at T1 is positively related to autonomous motivation at T2, and negative
affect in physical activity at T1 is positively related to negative affect in physical activity
T2. Autonomous motivation T2 is negatively related to controlled motivation at T2, and
with negative affect in physical activity at T2. Negative affect in physical activity at T2 is
positively related to controlled motivation at T1, and with controlled motivation at T2.
Results reported that all the variables had metric invariance at the two times point.
Models showed good fit when the factor structures of the latent variables were con-
strained across time (configural invariance), controlled motivation, χ2(5)  = 6.81,
p > .05, S-Bχ2(5) = 6.83, p > .05, R-CFI = .99, SRMR = .03, RMSEA (90%) = .05
(.00; .14), autonomous motivation, χ2(5)  = 5.44, p > 0.05, S-Bχ2(5) = 4.31, p > .05,

13
Happiness in Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Examination… 1649

R-CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .03, RMSEA (90%) = .00 (.00; .12), negative affect in physi-

cal activity, χ2(5) = 5.32, p > .05, S-Bχ2(5) = 2.19, p > .05, R-CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .03,
RMSEA (90%) = .00 (.00; .11). The models showed also good fit when all factor load-
ings were simultaneously constrained across time (metric invariance), controlled motiva-
tion, χ2(7) = 7.89, p > .05, S-Bχ2(7) = 7.85, p > .05, R-CFI = .99, SRMR = .04, RMSEA
(90%) = .00 (.00; .11), Autonomous Motivation, χ2(7) = 6.14, p > .05, S-Bχ2(7) = 4.65,
p > .05, R-CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .04, RMSEA (90%) = .00 (.00; .09), negative affect in phys-
ical activity, χ2(7) = 14.69, p > .05, S-Bχ2(5) = 4.97, p > .05, R-CFI = 1.00, SRMR = .06,
RMSEA (90%) = .00 (.00; .14). Finally, results showed that on the basis of the ΔCFI < .01
criteria, there was not significant deterioration in the model’s fit for controlled motivation,
Δχ2(2) = 1.08, ΔS-Bχ2(2) = 1.05, ΔR-CFI < .01, autonomous motivation, Δχ2(2) = 0.68,
ΔS-Bχ2(2)  = .49, ΔR-CFI  < .01, negative affect in physical activity, Δχ2(2)  = 9.37,
ΔS-Bχ2(2) = 2.19, ΔR-CFI < .01.
The overall measurement model, that allowed all latent variable to covary, showed a
good fit to the data, χ2(111) = 154.65, p < .05, S-Bχ2(111) = 131.54, p > .05, R-CFI = .97,
SRMR = .06, RMSEA (90%) = .04 (.00; .06), with all factor loadings (Table  2) ranging
from .55 to .91 were significant (p < .01), suggesting that the measurement model, which
would be used in the cross-lagged structural model, was strong.  Finally, results of the
cross-lagged-panel model (Fig. 1) showed significant paths for the stability of each latent
variable across time: controlled motivation from T1 to T2 (β = .57), autonomous motivation

Table 2  Factor loadings Factor loading

Autonomous motivation T1
Intrinsic motivation T1 0.58
Integrated motivation T1 0.72
Identified motivation T1 0.57
Autonomous motivation T2
Intrinsic motivation T2 0.70
Integrated motivation T2 0.75
Identified motivation T2 0.61
Controlled motivation T1
Introjected motivation T1 0.56
External motivation T1 0.72
Amotivation T1 0.64
Controlled motivation T2
Introjected motivation T2 0.55
External motivation T2 0.75
Amotivation T2 0.72
Negative affect in physical activity T1
Parcel1 T1 0.71
Parcel2 T1 0.68
Parcel3 T1 0.82
Negative affect in physical activity T2
Parcel1 T2 0.76
Parcel2 T2 0.91
Parcel3 T2 0.76

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 1650 S. Costa et al.

Fig. 1  Cross-lagged longitudinal model. N = 140; Standardized path coefficients; Dotted line represent not
significant path. For clarity reason, measurement part of the model and correlations among indicators of the
same variables measured at two time points were not presented

from T1 to T2 (β = .44), negative affect in physical activity from T1 to T2 (β = .28). A sig-

nificance cross-lagged effect was also shown from controlled motivation at T1 to negative
affect in physical activity at T2 (β = .24).

4 Discussion

This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relations between autonomous motivation,
controlled motivation, and negative affect in physical activity, using a sample of children
that regularly participated in physical activity. Moreover, this study aimed at investigating
the predictive value of children’s autonomous and controlled motivation to forecast their
negative affect doing physical activity. To test the study hypotheses, a two-wave cross-
lagged model was implemented, and results showed that controlled motivation at T1 posi-
tively predicts negative affect in physical activity at T2. Furthermore, autonomous motiva-
tion, controlled motivation, negative affect in physical activity were positively reciprocally
related among T1 and T2. Overall, the results of this study supported the hypotheses based
on the SDT framework regarding the role of motivation in the prediction of affects in the
physical activity context.
The first hypothesis of this study explored the positive cross-lagged effect controlled
motivation in physical activity on negative affect in physical activity. Results confirmed
the first hypothesis showing how controlled motivation at T1 positively predicted negative
affect in physical activity at T2 even when controlling for the children’s previous levels of
negative affect in physical activity. This result is totally in line with the previous studies of
SDT about relations between controlled and autonomous forms of motivation and physical
activity in children (Owenet al. 2014), also providing a further step forward in the literature
showing the relationship with the negative experience related to physical activity. Gener-
ally, these results seem to confirm the idea that individuals that are motivated to physi-
cal activity from external sources tend to develop more negative attitudes towards physical
activity. Children that practice physical education with amotivation and controlled forms
of motivation tend to carry out physical activity with a sense of pressure and coercion that,

13
Happiness in Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Examination… 1651

in the long term, results in reducing the enjoyment of physical activity with an increase of
negative affect for physical activity and drop-out risk. This aspect is also strengthened by
the results of the correlations that showed how the controlling motivation and the negative
affect are not significantly related to T1, while the correlation becomes positive at T2. It is
possible that although at the beginning of the physical activity, the controlling motivation
can have both positive and negative consequences (leading to non-significant correlations
and mixed results), the chronic and lasting use of this type of motivation is responsible for
a negative attitude towards physical activity.
The results did not support the second hypothesis of this study, in fact, autonomous
motivation in physical activity at T1 was not related to negative affect in physical activ-
ity at T2. Although this result may surprise, it appears to be in line with the "dual process
model" hypothesized by the SDT (Jang et al. 2016; Ryan and Deci 2017). In fact, accord-
ing to the SDT, the controlling motivational forms are more related to maladaptive and
negative outcomes representing the "dark" side of human functioning, while the supportive
and autonomous forms of motivation represent the "bright" side and are more connected
to positive and adaptive outcomes (Bartholomew et  al. 2011a, b; Costa et  al. 2015). In
line with these reasons, the absence of a relationship between autonomous motivation and
negative affect is justified by the fact that, as confirmed by the first hypothesis, controlling
forms of motivation are the strongest predictors for the adverse outcomes, creating a “dark”
path.
Nevertheless, the results of this study support the third hypothesis of this study, show-
ing that negative affect in physical activity has a weaker cross-lagged effect on autono-
mous and controlled motivation than the corresponding cross-lagged effects in the opposite
direction. This result confirms cross-sectional studies about the directionality of the rela-
tionship between motivation factors and affects the physical activity context. Previous stud-
ies (Owen et al. 2014; Teixeiraet al. 2012) have established that the motivation for physical
activity was a factor that could promote or reduce the frequency of physical activity, but
this directionality had not been verified for affects in the exercise and physical activity con-
text (Wilson et al. 2009). Furthermore, longitudinal studies on children regarding exercise
motivation are limited (Owen et al. 2014), and the results of this study showed that it is the
controlled motivation to increase the negative affects in a physical activity instead of the
opposite.
The results of this study should be used considering their limitations. Firstly, for all the
variables of the study, only self-report questionnaires were used. Future studies could use
observational ratings or external ratings (e.g. coaches or parents) to obtain more detailed
information. A second limitation is that several other variables could be relevant to under-
stand these relations. Future studies could integrate measures of positive affect, frequency,
and drop out of physical activity, but also general outcome outside the context of exercise
and physical activity such as educational achievement and self-esteem that could be influ-
enced by the sport participation. Finally, this study was based on a convenience sample of
children that regularly practiced physical activity, limiting the generalization of the results.
Future studies will generalize these findings using a more heterogeneous and widely sam-
ple. Despite these limits, this study provides central insights on the longitudinal relations
between autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and negative affect in physical
activity.
Overall, results provide evidence that a more controlled form of motivation creates a
long-term negative experience in the exercise and physical activity context. This result
has a strong practical implication suggesting that it is important when children practice
physical activity and exercise, that they feel motivated by autonomous motivation instead

13
 1652 S. Costa et al.

of controlled forms of motivation. Coaches, teachers, and parents should avoid promoting
controlled forms of motivation to entice children to physical activities because it could be
counterproductive in the long-term. Considering the beneficial effects of physical activity
for the health and well-being (Stenseng et al. 2015; Zhang and Chen 2018), is essential to
prevent them from having negative experiences in carrying out physical activity, for these
reason controlling forms of motivation should be avoided.
A virtual circle can be established. People that fell happiness and enjoyment in sport
and physical activity practice for longer and more frequently, and, as a consequence, physi-
cal activity promotes happiness and well-being in their general life. For this reason, from
a psycho-educational perspective, it is important to implement evidence-based programs
aimed to encourage sport motivation and the enjoyment of participation in physical activ-
ity. Researchers, practitioners, and families must understand the relevance of physical
activities to promote well-being and to influence the whole child’s development not only in
the motor and physical domain.

Funding  This work was supported by the Erasmus + Sport Programme (2017–2019) Call EAC/A04/2015—
Round 2 E + SPORT PROJECT—579661-EPP-1-2016-2-IT-SPO-SCP “Enriched Sport Activities Pro-
gram”—Agreement number 2016-3723/001-001.

Compliance with Ethical Stndards 

Conflict of interest  Authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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