Teachers’ Psychological Needs Link Social Pressure with Personal Adjustment and Motivating Teaching Style

Abstract

Grounded in self-determination theory, this study examined the explanatory role of teachers’ need-based experiences in the association between teachers’ perceived social pressure (i.e., from the principal, colleagues, and students) and their personal adjustment and motivating teaching style. In total, 482 secondary school teachers (M age = 39.9 years) participated in this questionnaire-based study. Teacher need satisfaction was primarily related to adaptive work adjustment (i.e., job satisfaction) and a motivating teaching style (i.e., provided autonomy support and structure), while need frustration was primarily related to maladjustment (i.e., emotional exhaustion) and a demotivating teaching style (i.e., provided control and chaos). Need-based experiences played either a partial or fully mediating role in the relation between different sources of social pressure and all but one outcome (i.e., chaos). Pressure from students yielded the strongest relation to teacher outcomes, suggesting that the need for targeting this source in intervention research and daily school life. Overall, the present findings highlight the unifying role of need-based experiences as a critical mechanism underlying the relation between different sources of pressure and both teachers’ personal adjustment and their motivating teaching style.