The role of motivation in shaping social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in physical-sports activity contexts

Abstract

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The present study aims to test a model in which basic psychological needs (BPN)satisfaction in physical‐sport activity contexts is associated with self‐determinedmotivation, which, in turn, would predict the social inclusion of people with intel-lectual disabilities. A total of 286 people with intellectual disabilities (53.5% men)who reported engaging in physical‐sport activities responded to a validated ques-tionnaire about the satisfaction of their BPN, motivation (using the Self‐determination index [SDI]), and social inclusion. A Pearson's bivariate correlationand structural equation modeling were conducted. The resulting model was rean-alyzed in a multigroup analysis to test its invariance across self and proxy reports.Positive associations were found between the satisfaction of the BPN and the SDI.However, the SDI and social inclusion were positively associated only in proxy re-ports (βself = 0.07 vs. βproxy = 0.30). The tested model established positive re-lationships between the BPN and SDI in autonomy (βself = 0.21 vs. βproxy = 0.18),competence (βself = 0.47 vs. βproxy = 0.53), and relatedness (βself = 0.21 vs.βproxy = 0.23). Further research is needed to understand the factors leading todiscrepancies between participants and proxies when relating the SDI to social in-clusion in the context of physical‐sport activity. However, the results obtainedsuggest that it would be optimal to develop contexts of practice for people withintellectual disabilities in which the satisfaction of their BPN is favored and that thishas a positive impact on their motivation and social inclusion.