{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T05:28:38Z","timestamp":1786512518293,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":64,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786492800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Emotional intelligence (EI) has emerged as a pivotal construct in educational psychology; however, understanding of how physical education (PE) contributes to its development remains fragmented. Eight prior systematic reviews have concluded that PE can develop EI, but three gaps persist: no integration across educational stages, no unified mechanistic account, and no cross-cultural perspective\u2014despite emerging evidence that EI pathways differ across cultural contexts. This narrative review synthesizes 64 publications\u2014including primary studies, eight systematic reviews, and meta-analyses published from 2014 to 2026, together with foundational theoretical works outside that window\u2014through thematic synthesis complemented by an exploratory bibliometric scan, effect direction plotting, and transparent evidence grading, organized around self-determination theory (SDT) as a unifying mechanistic framework with culture positioned as a formal boundary condition. The review centers on PE as a curricular subject in formal educational settings; organized sport enters it only where embedded in educational programs. Four pedagogical models are identified\u2014Teaching Games for Understanding combined with Sport Education, the Sport Education Model, cooperative learning and Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility, and mindfulness\/body-expression approaches\u2014and their shared effectiveness is best accounted for by their convergent capacity to satisfy basic psychological needs. The Mercader-Rubio research program and independent cross-validations are synthesized into an SDT-based mechanistic account whose supporting evidence is predominantly cross-sectional and self-report-based and therefore associational rather than causal. Drawing on three direct cross-cultural comparisons, evidence is presented that multiple key links in this chain are culturally modulated. These findings are integrated into a proposed Culturally Situated SDT\u2013EI Model of Physical Education\u2014a theoretically derived framework that has not yet been tested as an integrated structure\u2014generating three design principles for culturally responsive PE\u2013EI programs and eight priorities for the empirical validation the model now requires.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1914996","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T04:47:40Z","timestamp":1786510060000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Toward a Culturally Situated SDT\u2013EI Model of emotional intelligence in physical education: a narrative review"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Jiayin","family":"Lin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Normal University","place":["Guilin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huanling","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Normal University","place":["Guilin, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"842","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.166190.1","article-title":"The effects of emotional intelligence training programs on educators: a systematic review","volume":"14","author":"Aponte","year":"2025","journal-title":"F1000Res"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.25115\/ecp.v18i38.10114","article-title":"Development of emotional intelligence in primary education through physical education: a systematic review","volume":"18","author":"Baena-Extremera","year":"2025","journal-title":"Espiral. 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