Abstract:

In order to explore the effect of self-determination motivation on pro-social and anti-social behaviour and the working mechanism, this study investigated 203 Chinese athletes through ports behavioral regulation scale, sport moral disengagement scale and pro-social and antisocial behavior scale. The results indicate that: (1) self-determination motivation can positively predict pro-social behaviour, whereas controlled motivation can positively predict anti-social behavior and sport moral disengagement; (2) sport moral disengagement can partially mediate the relationship between controlled motivation and anti-social behaviour. Suggestions:when providing professional ethics education for athletes, we need to foster athletes' self-determination motivation, while decreasing controlled motivation and sport moral disengagement. This may be helpful to increase athletes' pro-social behavior and decrease their anti-social behavior.

Key words: self-determination theory, motivation, moral behaviour, sport moral disengagement