The Relationship Between Basic Psychological Needs and Hope on Adolescents’ School Adjustment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among school adjustment, basic psychological needs, and hope. The subjects were 607 middle and high school students. Specifically, the study examined the impacts of satisfaction with basic psychological needs perceived by adolescents on their hope, the effects of hope on school adjustment, and the mediating effects of hope on relations between basic psychological needs and school adjustment. The study also looked into the impacts of basic psychological needs and hope on the subareas(relationships with teachers, peer relationships, school rules, and school lessons) of school adjustment. As a result, first, basic psychological needs turned out to have positive impacts on school adjustment. Second, basic psychological needs had positive influences on hope. Third, hope functioned as a mediating variable in relations between basic psychological needs and school adjustment. That is, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs had direct effects on school adjustment and also indirect effects on it via hope, which demonstrates the partial mediating effects of hope. Finally, there were some differences among the paths of the sub-areas of school adjustment and the paths of overall school adjustment.