The Relationship between Self-Regulation in Schoolwork and Physical Activity, and Life-Satisfaction in Adolescents

According to the self-determination theory postulated by Deci and Ryan (1985), fulfillment of the basic needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness is essential for optimal human functioning and life-satisfaction, and critical in the area of goal pursuit and attainment. Self-regulation is the ability to regulate behavior towards specific goals, and is considered one of the important developmental skills students should learn through their adolescent years. It can be placed on a continuum from externally controlled to autonomous and internally regulated behavior, where the latter corresponds more positively with life- satisfaction than the first. This study explores the relationship between self-regulation in the two domains schoolwork and physical activity, and life-satisfaction in adolescents. Data was employed from 10th grade students (N=1534, age; M = 15.5) from the Norwegian sample of the cross-national survey Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC). Descriptive, correlation and regression analyses were conducted. In general, the adolescents reported moderate to high levels of self-regulation in both domains, as well as above-average levels of life- satisfaction. Self-regulation in physical activity correlated higher with life-satisfaction than self-regulation in schoolwork, though all correlations in the study were low to moderate. Self- regulation in both domains accounted for eight percent of the variance of life-satisfaction in the regression analyses. Implications for further research and practice are discussed