Effect of autonomy on children’s moderate to vigorous physical activity, enjoyment, and competency during high-intensity interval training in physical education

PURPOSE: Little is known about children’s enjoyment and competency with HIIT during school, and no efforts have been made using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to make school based, HIIT interventions more accepted by children. The purpose of this study is to describe children’s physical activity levels, enjoyment, and competency of HIIT within a SDT framework (autonomy) in elementary school physical education (PE) classes. The study will further explore children’s enjoyment and competence towards high intensity, low intensity, and strength activities. METHODS: Participants were 402 children from one diverse elementary school (49.4% female, 21.1% Latino or Hispanic, 59.6% white). Student enjoyment and competency were collected from each child following teacher (non-autonomous) and student led (autonomous) conditions. 201 children wore accelerometers to measure moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Enjoyment and competency were assessed for each activity type (high, strength, and low). ANALYSIS: The primary hypotheses were assessed through a series of 2-way ANOVAs; 2 (condition) x 2 (sex) x 4 (grade), with repeated measures on the first factor (condition). A 4 (grade) by 2 (sex) MANCOVA on enjoyment and competence for type of activity (high, strength, low). RESULTS: Children significantly enjoyed (M=4.52, SD=0.87) and felt more competent (M=4.45, SD=0.74) during the autonomous HIIT condition compared to the nonautonomous HIIT condition, (M=4.08, SD=1.09; M=4.36, SD=0.80); percent MPVA was significantly lower in the autonomous condition (M=41.89, SD=12.16) compared to the nonautonomous condition (M=54.77, SD =11.51). Females enjoyed low intensity activity significantly (M=4.56, SD =0.55) more than males (M=4.38, SD =0.69) and males enjoyed high intensity (M=4.17, SD =0.72) and strength activities (M=3.96, SD =1.01) significantly more than females (M=3.95, SD =0.75; M=3.67, SD =1.11). CONCLUSION: Girls across grades tended to enjoy lower intensity activity, while boys enjoyed high intensity and strength activities. In addition, the inclusion of choice to provide a sense of autonomy increased enjoyment of HIIT, which was associated with competence, but lowered physical activity intensity. These data can be used to inform the design of school based, HIIT interventions.