Resumen de Adaptation and Validation of the Psychological Need Thwarting Scale in Spanish Physical Education Teachers

Ricardo Cuevas Campos, David Sánchez Oliva, Kimberley J. Bartholomew, Nikos Ntoumanis, Tomás García Calvo

• Drawing from self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2002), the aim of the study was to adapt and validate a Spanish version of the Psychological Need Thwarting Scale (PNTS; Bartholomew, Ntoumanis, Ryan, & Thørgersen-Ntoumani, 2011) in the educational domain. Psychological need thwarting and burnout were assessed in 619 physical education teachers from several high schools in Spain. Overall, the adapted measure demonstrated good content, factorial (?2/gl = 4.87, p < .01, CFI = .95, IFI = .96, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .08, SRMR = .05), and external validity, as well as internal consistency (a = .81) and invariance across gender. Moreover, burnout was strongly predicted by teachers� perceptions of competence (ß = .53, p = .01), autonomy (ß = .34, p = .01), and relatedness (ß = .31, p = .01) need thwarting. In conclusion, these results support the Spanish version of the PNTS as a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the understudied concept of psychological need thwarting in teachers.