The influence of students’ perceptions of teacher criticism styles on their intention to improve disruptive classroom behavior in physical education: A structural equation model based on academic emotion mechanisms

Disruptive classroom behavior is prevalent in physical education classes. Teachers typically respond to such behaviors with criticism, but different criticism styles may evoke distinct emotional responses in students. The present study examines how students’ perceptions of constructive and destructive criticism used by physical education teachers in response to disruptive classroom behavior influence students’ intention to improve such behavior through the mediating roles of classroom anger, classroom anxiety, and classroom helplessness. Questionnaire data were collected from 583 Chinese middle school students, and the mediation effects in the model were estimated using the product-of-coefficients approach with bias-corrected Monte Carlo bootstrapping. (1) The indirect effects of constructive criticism through classroom anger and classroom helplessness were significant, whereas the indirect effect through classroom anxiety was not significant. (2) The indirect effects of destructive criticism through classroom anger, classroom anxiety, and classroom helplessness were all significant. (3) Constructive criticism is significantly more effective than destructive criticism in enhancing students’ intention to improve disruptive classroom behavior. In the context of physical education classes in China, students’ disruptive classroom behavior may elicit different types of teacher criticism, and students’ perceptions of constructive and destructive criticism from teachers further influence their intention to improve disruptive classroom behavior through academic emotions. Constructive criticism is more likely than destructive criticism to promote students’ behavioral regulation and improvement, and physical education teachers should use specific and improvement-oriented constructive criticism more frequently.