Achievement goals in Turkish high school PE setting: The predicting role of social physique anxiety

• Females have higher mastery and avoidance goals and social physique anxiety.
• 10th graders have higher mastery achievement goal.
• 9th and 10th graders have higher performance approach and avoidance goal.
• 9th graders have higher social physique anxiety than 11th graders.
• Social physique anxiety is positive predictor of performance avoidance goal.

The objectives of this study were to determine high school students’ achievement goals and social physique anxiety level according to gender and grade level and to examine the role of social physique anxiety in predicting achievement goals. Participants consisted of 1359 female and 1286 male high school students from central Turkey. The results showed that females obtained higher scores on mastery and performance avoidance achievement goals and social physique anxiety, 10th-grade students obtained higher scores on mastery achievement goals, 9th- and 10th-grade students obtained higher scores than students in other grades on performance approach achievement goals, 9th- and 10th-grade students obtained higher scores than students in other grades on performance avoidance achievement goals, and 9th-grade students obtained higher scores than 11th-grade students on social physique anxiety. Furthermore, social physique anxiety was found to be a positive predictor of performance avoidance achievement goals in physical education.