Basis Of Self-determination Theory Research Articles

Parental educational styles from parents’ and children’s perspectives

INTRODUCTION. The construction of parental educational styles is diverse and they develop along with the children being raised. Self Determination Theory (SDT) establishes two dimensions to define parental educational behaviours: autonomy support versus control, and structure versus chaos. On the basis of SDT, two parental educational styles are pointed: authoritative and harsh. This study analyses the relationship between parental education styles and children’s perceptions of their parents’ behaviours, and the influence of the parent gender. METHOD. The sample comprised 2,404 parents, and 1,234 children from 3 autonomous communities in Spain. The Parents as social context questionnaire was applied, and the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale and Dependency-oriented psychological control scale in children. All of the instruments were adapted into Spanish. Multigroup path analysis was performed to identify the most appropriate model about parental educational styles in family dynamics, taking into account the parent’s gender. RESULTS. Firstly, the authoritative and harsh parental styles were confirmed via confirmatory factor analysis. The findings showed that the ideal model was that where there was no bi-directionality between parents’ perceptions about their educational styles and their children’s perceptions. The chosen model indicates a unidirectional path from parents to children. Being necessary to keep a relation between the child’s perception about the received support for autonomy and parental control. The invariance of the model based on the gender was partially maintained. DISCUSSION. This study shows a model where the authoritative parental style influences child’s perceived autonomy support and where the harsh parental style has effects on child’s perceived threat. The concept of parental psychological control has been discussed. Finally, a balance between authoritative and harsh style, is proposed inside families.

Association between coach-athlete relationship and athlete engagement in Chinese team sports: The mediating effect of thriving.

Coach-athlete relationship (CAR), thriving and athlete engagement are important psychological variables that affect sports performance. On the basis of self-determination theory, this study constructs a mediation model to examine the influence of CAR on athlete engagement and the mediating effect of thriving between them. This cross-sectional study involves a questionnaire survey with 287 Chinese active athletes (M = 19.63, SD = 2.53) aged 14-26 years (64.5% male, 35.5% female) from eight sports. CAR, thriving and athlete engagement were assessed using the CAR Questionnaire, the Thriving Scale, and the Athlete Engagement Questionnaire, respectively. CAR and its dimensions can significantly and positively predict athlete engagement, complementarity, commitment, and closeness, accounting for 35.1%, 34.6%, and 30.4% of the cumulative variance in dominance analysis, respectively. The direct and indirect paths show that CAR affects athlete engagement through the mediating effect of thriving. The mediating effect model has a good fit and indirect effects account for 56.9% of the total effects. The effect of CAR on athlete engagement reflects a practical application of interpersonal dynamics in competitive sports to a certain extent. The following suggestions can be used to improve athlete engagement. First, setting common goals, emphasizing mutual cooperation, and building trust and support, promote coaches and athletes to have a higher sense of commitment and complementarity to each other, thereby helping improve athlete engagement. Second, meeting the vitality and progress needs of athletes effectively mobilizes CAR resources to promote athlete engagement, which can be manipulated by cultivating closeness, commitment, and complementarity. Third, to ensure the athletes' sports state and mental health, the sports team should focus on the cultivation of athletes' capacities to thrive and internally form a dynamic and positive sports atmosphere in their team. In the future, we can track and compare the influence of the improvement of CAR on thriving and athlete engagement can be tracked and compared from the dual perspectives of coaches and athletes.

Understanding and supporting the motivation of students from low-income families

Motivational development in low-income adolescents has been insufficiently studied, due to the difficulties involved in accessing the target population. Nevertheless, previous research suggests that some specific developmental patterns might be particular to this group. On the basis of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and using latent growth modeling (LGM), we investigated the trajectories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in low-income students during adolescence, and we identified the role of parents, teachers, and classmates in determining these trajectories. The participants were 228 adolescents (Mage = 12.8; SDage = 1.74; 43.4% girls; 17.1% immigrants) officially certified by the Italian government as being below the poverty threshold. Data was collected by means of a four-wave research design over a period of two years.Our findings revealed a significant drop in levels of identified regulation over time, while all other forms of motivation, including intrinsic motivation, remained stable during the period considered. Low-income students therefore appear to experience a specific form of motivational decline during adolescence, so that they perceive studying as being less and less meaningful in relation to their goals, values and identities. This decline is even more pronounced for second-generation and male low-income adolescents.However, parents and teachers were significant predictors of identified regulation at each point in time, suggesting that their support for autonomy fosters identified regulation throughout adolescence. As regards the role of classmates, peer acceptance appears to support identified regulation, while having many friendships seems to have a negative impact on this kind of motivation.

Elderly-Oriented Improvement of Mobile Applications Based on Self-Determination Theory

At present, the research on elderly-oriented experience for mobile applications is relatively scattered, and improvements have not been explored to meet the major psychological needs of the elderly. In this study, 15 principles for the design of mobile applications for the elderly in three aspects, i.e., autonomy, competence and relatedness, have been proposed on the basis of self-determination theory, literature review and results obtained from semi-structured interviews. In order to improve an existing mobile application with respect to these three aspects, data were collected from 45 elderly participants. The results revealed that the improved mobile application effectively catered to the basic psychological needs of older users, as compared to the earlier version. Hence, the design principles identified in the study can effectively guide designers in developing elderly-oriented mobile applications to improve the user experience and the wellbeing of older adults.

The Importance of Basic Psychological Needs in Relationship Quality: A Review on the Basis of Self-Determination Theory and Main Relationship Categories

Self-Determination Theory (SDT) assesses how biological, social, and cultural conditions improve or thwart our innate capacity for psychological growth. According to the SDT, one of three basic psychological needs is the need to be related which means the ability to form social bonds to whom people are valued and feel belonging. This review aims to assess the current literature by focusing on the need for relatedness from the perspective of the Relationships Motivation Theory (RMT). After a brief introduction about the SDT and the RMT, current literature on the RMT is examined through different types of relationships. In general, meeting basic psychological needs in any relationship, the level of autonomous motivation of the person and the amount of autonomy support provided by the environment increases the general well-being of the people in the relationship, while the conflict or obstruction of basic needs negatively affect them. More studies are needed in areas other than romantic relationships, with experimental and longitudinal designs. In addition, testing each type of relationship with different sample groups and increasing studies that examine different types of relationships at the same time might enable a comprehensive evaluation of the RMT.

See the forest by looking at the trees: Physical education teachers’ interpersonal style profiles and students’ engagement

On the basis of self-determination theory, we aimed to identify students’ perceptions of interpersonal teaching style profiles (i.e. within-teacher combinations of six dimensions of need-supportive and need-thwarting behaviours of autonomy, competence and relatedness) and to examine, through a cross-sectional design, the possible associations between these teaching profiles and students’ behavioural and emotional engagement. Participants were 2065 students ( nteachers = 38) of Physical Education (PE) ( Mage = 11.96 ± 1.95; range = 10–16 years; 1042 girls) nested in 98 classrooms from elementary ( n = 915) and secondary ( n = 1150) Spanish schools. Students filled out questionnaires in a paper and pencil format during the last semester of the school year. A four-cluster solution was found to be the most suitable: (a) a high-low group (i.e. high in perceived need-support and low in need-thwarting), (b) a low-high group (i.e. low in perceived need-support and relatively high in need-thwarting), (c) a low-low group (i.e. low in both need-support and need-thwarting) and (d) a mixed group (i.e. low in autonomy support, high in autonomy-thwarting and relatively modest-to-high in competence and relatedness support and thwarting). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated significant differences in students’ behavioural and emotional engagement as a function of cluster membership. Post hoc comparisons showed that the high-low group reported the highest levels of engagement and the low-high group the lowest ones. Furthermore, the mixed group scored the second highest level of engagement – higher than the low-low and the low-high group. These results suggest that teachers who fail to support students’ needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness – either by using or not using need-thwarting instructional practices – might undermine students’ engagement.

Emotion regulation in times of COVID-19: A person-centered approach based on self-determination theory.

Although the COVID-19 crisis is a worldwide threat to individuals’ physical health and psychological well-being, not all people are equally susceptible to increased ill-being. One potentially important factor in individuals’ vulnerability (versus resilience) to ill-being in the face of stress is emotion regulation. On the basis of Self-Determination Theory, this study examined the role of three emotion regulation styles in individuals’ mental health during the COVID-19 crisis, that is, integration, suppression, and dysregulation. Participants were 6584 adults (77% female, Mage = 45.16 years) who filled out well-validated measures of emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and sleep quality. To examine naturally occurring combinations of emotion regulation strategies, hierarchical k-means clustering was performed, yielding 3 profiles: (a) low scores on all strategies (indicating rather low overall levels of worry; 27%), (b) high scores on integration only (41%), and (c) high scores on suppression and dysregulation (32%). Participants in the profiles scoring high on suppression and dysregulation displayed a less favorable pattern of outcomes (high ill-being, low life satisfaction, and poorer sleep quality) compared to the other two groups. Between-cluster differences remained significant even when taking into account the corona-related worries experienced by people. Overall, the findings underscore the important role of emotion regulation in individuals’ mental health during mentally challenging periods such as the COVID-19 crisis. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Moderated Mediation Model of the Impact of Autonomous Motivation on Postgraduate Students' Creativity

On the basis of self-determination theory, this study analyzes the influence mechanism of autonomous motivation (AM) on postgraduate students’ creativity (PSC), including the mediating effect of learning engagement (LE) and the moderating effect of supervisor's innovation support (SIS). Through a questionnaire survey, 542 questionnaires of postgraduate students were collected in China, and SPSS and MPLUS software were used for empirical analysis. Results showed that AM positively affects LE, and LE affects PSC and plays a mediating role in the relationship between AM and PSC. Furthermore, SIS positively moderates the influence of AM on LE. The higher the SIS is, the greater the influence of AM on LE will be. SIS positively moderates the effect of LE on PSC. The higher the SIS is, the greater the effect of LE on PSC will be. These findings not only enrich the literature on PSC, but also provides some suggestions for promoting PSC from the perspective of postgraduate student, supervisor, and university.

Autonomy-related Parenting Profiles and their Effects on Adolescents’ Academic and Psychological Development: A Longitudinal Person-oriented Analysis

The important role of parenting is widely acknowledged, but as most studies have understood and examined it as a stable attribute (e.g., parenting style), the stability of and changes in parenting are less well understood. Using longitudinal person-oriented approaches (i.e., latent profile analyses and latent transition analyses), this study aimed to examine the stability of and changes in autonomy-related parenting profiles and their effects on adolescents’ academic and psychological development. Four autonomy-related dimensions (i.e., autonomy support, warmth, psychological control, conditional regard) were chosen to identify parenting profiles on the basis of Self-Determination Theory. Using five-year longitudinal data from 789 German secondary school students (50.06% female, Mage at T1 = 10.82 years, age span = 10–17), four autonomy-related parenting profiles were found: Supportive (~17%), Controlling (~31%), Unsupportive-Uncontrolling (~17%), and Limited Supportive (~35%). The results suggest that the Supportive profile contributes to adolescents’ positive academic and psychological development, whereas the Controlling profile, which thwarts autonomy development, exacerbates the development of psychopathology, and impairs academic achievement. More importantly, the Limited Supportive profile is as maladaptive as the Unsupportive-Uncontrolling profile. Regarding parenting profiles’ stability and changes, the results showed that about half of each profile stayed in the same group. Overall, it could be observed that parents became more supportive and less controlling over time. However, the findings also indicate that parenting profiles are less stable than expected and can still change during early-to-mid adolescence.

Place attachment satisfies psychological needs in the context of environmental risk coping: Experimental evidence of a link between self-determination theory and person-place relationship effects

The present paper aims to provide some empirical evidence of how the ability of places to satisfy psychological needs might be an antecedent for the creation of an affective bond with those places by using visualization techniques for place attachment manipulation and exploring the similarities between two main frames of reference in literature, place attachment literature and Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The paper has three main hypotheses: 1) showing that the basic needs hypothesized by SDTand those hypothesized by Place Attachment Literature are both affected by place features and have similar affective and behavioral outcomes; 2) showing that the ability of a place to satisfy individual's needs is associated with the individual attachment to the place; 3) showing that the place attachment developed by the perception of needs satisfaction affects individual's place-related behaviors.Two experimental studies were conducted manipulating place attachment toward a new evacuation site in a virtual location affected by natural hazards, with two scenario manipulations. One manipulation is realized on the basis of the needs emerged by place attachment literature taxonomies. The second manipulation aims to the same target on the basis of Self-Determination Theory. Study 1 shows that both manipulations affect psychological need satisfaction and place attachment; Study 2 shows that they also affect risk coping place-related behavior. Results confirm the three hypotheses and shed light on how psychological needs satisfaction is linked to place attachment and its practical relevance for environmental risk perception and coping in natural hazard contexts, possibly improving risk coping plans in emergency situations and, ultimately, saving lives. Moreover, these results could be applied also to other settings, like shelters or temporary settlements improving wellness conditions in these environments.

Servant leadership and civil servants' service attitude: The role of basic needs satisfaction

We explored the effect of servant leadership on service attitude to understand its mediation mechanism, on the basis of selfdetermination theory. We used valid, reliable scales to measure servant leadership and basic needs satisfaction, and a self-designed scale to measure service attitude among 160 public servant–citizen paired dyads from the Chinese Government Affairs Center. Results show that servant leadership had a positive influence on service attitude, and that the basic needs of autonomy and competence played mediating roles, but the basic need of relatedness did not. Our results affirm selfdetermination theory and empirically show the different roles of psychological needs satisfaction. Future research prospects and implications for civil service reforms are discussed.

Paternalistic Leadership and Subordinates' Trust in Supervisors: Mediating Effects of Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction.

Subordinates’ trust is critical for a supervisor’s exercise of leadership to effectively influence subordinates’ work outcomes. However, the optimal approach for facilitating trust is still under debate, between instrumentality-based and motivation-based perspectives. On the basis of self-determination theory (SDT), the current study explored the direct effects of paternalistic leadership on trust in supervisors (TS) and the mediating role of the satisfaction of subordinates’ basic psychological needs. In a survey of 1,076 teachers in China, we found that paternalistic leadership affected trust directly, and that subordinates’ need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness also mediated the leadership–trust relationship to different degrees. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Understanding the role of perceived satisfaction with autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the CSR context

In previous studies, researchers have determined that the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of a company develop a positive attitude. However, empirical research that explains how CSR activities influence the behavioral intention of customers remains lacking. Thus, this study aims to address gaps in the previous literature by examining customers’ responses to hotel CSR activities. On the basis of self-determination theory, the different roles of CSR activities (i.e., feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in increasing positive behavioral intention are identified in the hotel industry. Path analysis using SmartPLS software confirms that participants with a high satisfaction level with relatedness tend to develop revisit and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions toward hotels. Moreover, satisfaction with autonomy is related to increased WOM intention. By contrast, perceived satisfaction with competence is unrelated to revisit or WOM intention. Therefore, although hotel CSR activities can exert a direct effect on brand-related attitude, their effect apparently varies depending on the types of needs satisfaction. The findings of this study verify that the effectiveness of hotel CSR activities can be linked to company performance by meeting different types of needs satisfaction.

How to enhance solvers’ continuance intention in crowdsourcing contest

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying mechanisms through which interactivity and fairness perception impart influence on solvers’ continuance intention in crowdsourcing contest settings. Design/methodology/approach On basis of self-determination theory and social exchange theory, this study focuses on the mediating roles of motivation and platform trust to explain the underlying influence processes of interactivity and fairness perception on continuance intention. A sample of 306 solvers was obtained from an online crowdsourcing platform through two separated surveys. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares method and bias-corrected bootstrapping method. Findings The empirical results indicate that motivation and platform trust together fully mediate the effect of interactivity on continuance intention, and the effect of fairness perception on continuance intention is also fully mediated by motivation and platform trust. While motivation is found to have a stronger mediating effect than platform trust does. Originality/value This study contributes to the crowdsourcing research by figuring out the pathway through which interactivity and fairness perception influence solvers’ continuance intention.

The Effect of Authentic Leadership on Intrinsic Motivation of Millennial Engineers Working in Information Technology (IT) Sector

Purpose – This study focuses on millennial engineers working in IT sector in Turkey and aims to investigate the effect of authentic leadership on their intrinsic motivation on the basis of self-determination theory. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study is a descriptive study exploring the relationship between authentic leadership and intrinsic motivation of millennial engineers. Survey technique is used and online survey is carried out with the engineers working for at least one year or more in IT departments of different companies operating in finance, telecommunication and software development sector in Turkey. The sample size is 196 and the sample includes both male and female engineers at different ages belonging to millennial generation. Findings – This study shows that there is a positive relation between authentic leadership and intrinsic motivation of millennial engineers. This means that authentic leadership increases intrinsic motivation of millennial engineers and millennial engineers working with authentic leaders show more self-determined behaviors and involve more in activities that they are inherently satisfied by doing. This result has important implications for the organizations that have millennial engineers. Research Limitations/Implications – More generalizable findings might be obtained if this study is carried out by a larger number of participants working in IT departments of companies operating in different sectors and if the data are collected within a longer time frame. Practical Implications – This study includes managerial implications for organizations in developing, training, recruiting leaders and in strategy making processes. Originality/Value – There is a limited literature on the effect of authentic leadership on intrinsic motivation of millennials. This thesis aims to fill this gap in the literature and the conclusions drawn are intended to provide guidance to leaders and managers to better understand and motivate millennial engineers in order to sustain the workforce in the long run.

Relationships between sociocultural factors (gender, immigrant and socioeconomic background), peer relatedness and positive affect in adolescents

IntroductionDuring adolescence, experiencing positive emotions at school is important for motivation as well as for academic success and psychological well-being. In the present study, on the basis of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), we investigated the relationships between sociocultural factors (gender, immigrant and socioeconomic background), peer relatedness (acceptance and friendship) and positive affect at school. MethodsData was based on a random sample of 36,712 tenth grade Italian adolescents. Their average age was 15.6 years (SD = 0.77), 50.6% were males, while 6.1% were first-generation immigrants and 3.8% were second-generation immigrants. Firstly, comparing latent means, we established peer relatedness and positive affect profiles of adolescents with different sociocultural backgrounds. Subsequently, we tested a structural equation model, based on SDT, according to which the effects of sociocultural factors on experiencing positive affect at school are mediated by peer relatedness dimensions. ResultsLatent mean comparisons showed that immigrant adolescents, students with a lower-SES and girls had fewer friendships with their classmates, lower levels of positive affect at school and were less accepted by their peers. A well-fitting structural equation model corroborated the mediating role of acceptance and friendship, which accounted for 16% of variance in positive affect. ConclusionsDue to sociocultural factors, some groups of adolescents proved to be more at risk of being socially excluded and of experiencing less positive affect at school. Moreover, our findings support the claim of SDT that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, such as relatedness, is more important than sociocultural factors in determining adolescents’ psychological well-being.

THE INFLUENCE OF BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ INTRINSIC MOTIVATION AT RRI ACTIVITY

The article deals with the role of responsible research and innovation (RRI) at science education in promoting intrinsic motivation of secondary school learners from Lithuania. RRI deals with uncertain areas of knowledge and gives students an opportunity for responsibility and self-expression to come to informed decisions about science innovations and their impact. The theoretical background of learners’ intrinsic motivation was analysed on the basis of Self-Determination Theory (STD). STD highlights three basic psychological needs of learners: the need for autonomy, the need for competence and the need for relatedness.The research problem is formulated as a question: how do basic psychological needs influence intrinsic motivation of secondary school learners at RRI activity? Intrinsic motivation inventory was used to assess the secondary school students’ intrinsic motivation related to RRI activity. The collected data were analysed using simple regression. The findings confirm that the need for competence and the need for relatedness are important internal factors in promotion of intrinsic motivation of secondary school learners at RRI activity.

Do athletes’ responses to coach autonomy support and control depend on the situation and athletes’ personal motivation?

Although plenty of studies have shown that a controlling, relative to an autonomy-supportive, motivating style yields a host of undesirable outcomes, at least some sport coaches endorse the belief that in some situations (e.g., when athletes misbehave) or with some athletes (e.g., those who are amotivated) a controlling approach is warranted and even beneficial. On the basis of Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2017), the current study examined to what extent the effects of an autonomy-supportive and controlling coaching style depend on (a) the situation at hand and (b) athletes’ personal motivation. To do so, we made use of an experimental vignette–based approach. Specifically, after having completed a validated questionnaire on their motivation to practice judo (i.e., autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, amotivation), 101 judokas (67.3% boys; Mage = 13.31 ± 1.54) were randomly assigned to either an autonomy-supportive or a controlling condition. In each condition, judokas read two comics representing distinct situations (i.e., athletes struggling with skill mastery despite their effort versus athletes not putting effort and disturbing practice), imagining themselves being the athlete in the comic. Having read the comic, athletes filled out a paper and pencil questionnaire in which they rated their anticipated need satisfaction/frustration, engagement, oppositional defiance, and anger. Results showed that the situational circumstances (i.e., athletes are misbehaving) attenuated, yet, did not cancel out, some of the detrimental effects of a controlling (relative to an autonomy-supportive) approach. Effects of coaches’ motivating style appeared to be largely independent of athletes’ motivation. The theoretical and practical significance of the results are discussed.

The Explanatory Role of Basic Psychological Need Experiences in the Relation between Dependency, Self-Criticism and Psychopathology in Adolescence

According to Blatt’s theory on personality development, adolescents with high levels of self-criticism and dependency are more vulnerable to diverse types of psychopathology. However, relatively little is known about intervening processes involved in this personality-based vulnerability. The goal of this study is to examine, on the basis of Self-Determination Theory, the explanatory role of the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in associations between self-criticism and dependency on the one hand and adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems on the other hand. In this cross-sectional and multi-informant study, 284 adolescents (58,5% female; mean age = 14.15; SD = .93) and their parents reported about the adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing problems. Adolescents also completed measures assessing self-criticism, dependency, and psychological needs experiences. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Self-criticism and dependency were significantly related to higher levels of both internalizing and externalizing problems, with psychological need frustration fully mediating these associations. This study suggests that psychological need frustration is an important explanatory mechanism in personality-related vulnerability for adolescent psychopathology. More generally, it provides further evidence for the integration between two major theoretical approaches in the domain of adolescent development and psychopathology.

Nonmonetary Incentives and the Implications of Work as a Source of Meaning

Empirical research in economics has begun to explore the idea that workers care about nonmonetary aspects of work. An increasing number of economic studies using survey and experimental methods have shown that nonmonetary incentives and nonpecuniary aspects of one’s job have substantial impacts on job satisfaction, productivity, and labor supply. By drawing on this evidence and relating it to the literature in psychology, this paper argues that work represents much more than simply earning an income: for many people, work is a source of meaning. In the next section, we give an economic interpretation of meaningful work and emphasize how it is affected by the mission of the organization and the extent to which job design fulfills the three psychological needs at the basis of self-determination theory: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. We point to the evidence that not everyone cares about having a meaningful job and discuss potential sources of this heterogeneity. We sketch a theoretical framework to start to formalize work as a source of meaning and think about how to incorporate this idea into agency theory and labor supply models. We discuss how workers’ search for meaning may affect the design of monetary and nonmonetary incentives. We conclude by suggesting some insights and open questions for future research.