Teaching Styles in Physical Education: A New Approach to Predicting Resilience and Bullying

The main objective of this study was to analyze student-perceived teaching styles’ power to predict students’ resilience and the emergence of bullying behaviors in physical education class. A total of 537 students of both sexes, between 11 and 15 years of age, from primary and secondary schools in the province of Alicante (Spain), participated in the study. The design of the study was cross-sectional. The results showed that bullying was positively predicted by students’ perceptions of a more controlling style and negatively by a greater perception of an autonomy-supportive style in physical education classes. Victimization was negatively predicted by greater resilience and positively by students’ perception of a teacher’s more controlling style. Finally, the mediation analysis showed that the perception of autonomy support indirectly and negatively predicted victimization, with resilience acting as a mediator. These findings provide useful information for physical education teachers interested in preventing bullying, and have important practical implications about the teaching style recommended for this purpose.