en عمومى General پژوهشي orginal article <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Background & Aims</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">: </span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">A crucial issue for the health of children and adolescents is understanding how to boost their level of physical activity during the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic has limited opportunities for engaging in physical activity, even for activities that students find enjoyable. </span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Materials & Methods</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">:</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"> This study investigates students&rsquo; autonomy in sports to foster harmonious passion for physical activity and mental health. Self-determination theory was used as the theoretical framework. A total of 236 female students (Mage = 15.36) participated in a 16-week research project. Samples were randomly divided into an autonomy-support group and a control group. </span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Results</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">:</span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"> The results showed that the experimental group had more harmonious passion (<i>p</i> < 0.05). They also reported more physical activity, less loneliness, and greater mental vitality (<i>p</i> < 0.05). </span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Conclusion</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">: </span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Physical education based on autonomy support during the COVID-19 pandemic was effective in fostering harmonious passion for physical activity and reducing the negative psychological consequences of virus outbreaks.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="background:#d9d9d9"><span style="line-height:16.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="font-size:9.0pt"></span></span></span></span></span> Autonomy-support, Dualistic model of passion, Loneliness, Subjective vitality, Corona virus 125 138 http://ijrabms.umsu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-118-3&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Solmaz Babaei s.babaei@maragheh.ac.ir 10031947532846004112 10031947532846004112 Yes Associate Professor, Department of Sports Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran Masoumeh Parvaneh masoomeh.parvaneh@yahoo.com 10031947532846004113 10031947532846004113 No PhD in Motor Behavior, Faculty of Sports Science, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran