Dynamic interactions between teacher involvement and satisfaction of students’ basic psychological needs

Abstract

The present three-wave longitudinal study explores the importance of teacher need supportive behavior for students’ motivational processes. The purpose of this study was to examine the reciprocal associations between teacher involvement and the satisfaction of students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. A total of 795 students from the 9th to the 11th grade with mean age of 16.16 years (49.8% female) completed questionnaires about satisfaction of three basic psychological needs and perceptions of teachers’ interpersonal involvement at three measurement points 5 to 6 months apart during one and a half school year. To address main goal a cross-lagged analysis was performed. Results revealed half-year stability and within-time correlations of the study constructs. Cross-lagged effects highlighted that teacher involvement positively influenced the satisfaction of the need for relatedness, while the inverse effect was not significant. Students’ perception of higher teacher involvement leads to higher satisfaction of need for relatedness, however the higher level of relatedness need satisfaction does not make students more inclined to perceive their teachers as more interpersonally involved. Findings suggest that educators play an essential role in the development of students’ motivational processes, and sustaining warm and caring teacher-student relationships should be a priority for teachers.