The influence of teacher-initiated motivational climate on cognitive, affective, and behavioural student outcomes has been highlighted as an area of future research. This study, grounded in self-determination and achievement goal theories, examined how teacher-initiated motivational climate can increase student motivation and positive affective responses in physical education (PE) along with their physical activity (PA) participation, and whether motivational climate has a longitudinal effect across middle school. In addition, we aimed to examine the role of positive affect in explaining the relationship between motivation in PE and out-of-school PA participation. Our sample comprised 540 adolescents (277 boys, 263 girls, median age 13) and they responded to self-report questionnaires measuring their perception of motivational climate in PE classes (Motivation Climate in Physical Education Questionnaire), motivational regulations (Physical Education Motivation Scale), enjoyment (Sport Enjoyment Scale), and PA participation (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Research Protocol) twice at both Grades 7 and 9. Structural equation model analyses produced three main findings. First, the study showed that intrinsic motivation was the vital component of motivation that transferred the effect of learning-oriented climate to long-lasting enjoyment in PE context. Second, performance-oriented climate had a long-lasting effect on introjected and extrinsic regulations and amotivation. Finally, the study showed enjoyable experiences in PE to transfer intrinsic motivation into PA participation. The findings of the study extend our understanding on how teacher-initiated motivational climate in PE can lead to an increase in PA participation during middle school.

Previous research has considered action and adventure sports using a variety of associated terms and definitions which has led to confusing discourse and contradictory research findings. Traditional narratives have typically considered participation exclusively as the pastime of young people with abnormal characteristics or personalities having unhealthy and pathological tendencies to take risks because of the need for thrill, excitement or an adrenaline ‘rush’. Conversely, recent research has linked even the most extreme forms of action and adventure sports to positive physical and psychological health and well-being outcomes. Here, we argue that traditional frameworks have led to definitions, which, as currently used by researchers, ignore key elements constituting the essential merit of these sports. In this paper, we suggest that this lack of conceptual clarity in understanding cognitions, perception and action in action and adventure sports requires a comprehensive explanatory framework, ecological dynamics which considers person-environment interactions from a multidisciplinary perspective. Action and adventure sports can be fundamentally conceptualized as activities which flourish through creative exploration of novel movement experiences, continuously expanding and evolving beyond predetermined environmental, physical, psychological or sociocultural boundaries. The outcome is the emergence of a rich variety of participation styles and philosophical differences within and across activities. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to point out some limitations of existing research on action and adventure sports; (b) based on key ideas from emerging research and an ecological dynamics approach, to propose a holistic multidisciplinary model for defining and understanding action and adventure sports that may better guide future research and practical implications.