Prior studies showed that general basic psychological need satisfaction or social support affected academic engagement. However, it remains unknown how the mutual reinforcement between the perception of internal needs and external support influences adolescents' academic engagement, as well as whether academic engagement can shape psychological…

Students' strongly positive STEM interest and identity predict their future study and career choices in a STEM field. STEM education studies addressing multiple disciplines together are insufficient, as they have produced mixed findings and inadequate direction for advancing integrated STEM education. Self-determination theory (SDT) provides an…

Childhood and adolescence are pivotal developmental stages for psychological health. An understanding of psychological mechanisms related to well-being is important for promoting positive life outcomes for youth. Research generally shows that the basic psychological need for autonomy is significantly associated with well-being. To examine the…

Building upon the circumplex approach to (de)motivating styles defined by self-determination theory, this research aimed: (a) to analyse the extent to which physical education (PE) teachers' (de)motivating teaching approaches differ across gender, school level, and years of teaching experience, and (b) to test paths from PE teachers' need-based…

Background: Consistent with self-determination theory (SDT), teachers may differ in the motivating style used to motivate students in physical education (PE). When relying on need-supportive behaviors, teachers attempt to provide students with opportunities for choices and initiative (autonomy support), valuable information and feedback…

Highly visual social media (HVSM) platforms, such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, are increasingly popular among young people. It is unclear what motivates young people to engage with these specific highly visual platforms and what impact the inherent features of HVSM have on young people's mental health. Nine semi-structured focus group…

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to determine school leaders' ability to manage underprivileged students' needs, the level of achievement of these students and the relationship between the two variables. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative methodology comprising a questionnaire instrument was utilized to collect data from 239…

Teenagers are often disengaged in high school. Self-determination theory suggests that support for competence, autonomy, and relatedness may facilitate engagement. Co-creation encourages students to take responsibility for their affective engagement and work with teachers to create a context that supports their basic needs. Youth Participatory…

Students' adaptive motivation to study tends to decrease over time. However, the reasons for this decline are not fully understood. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), we investigated whether changes in teachers' motivating style and students' associated need-based experiences could explain the motivational decline documented in the…

All over the world, educational science outreach programs in which students can perform laboratory work have been developed. A common goal of these programs is to counteract students' decreasing motivation in STEM education. In Germany, several outreach science labs have been established over the last 20 years. It is assumed that the…

Due to the growing number of students enrolling as homeless in American public schools, a quantitative design was applied to determine if students in an Illinois suburban, kindergarten through eighth grade school district (District A), who are enrolled under the McKinney-Vento Act and are receiving resources of food, shelter, clothing, and…

Purpose: The present study investigated the relationship between an empowering motivational climate and pupils' concentration and distraction in physical education, mediated by basic psychological needs satisfaction and by positive and negative affect. Method: The participants were 425 French pupils (M[subscript age] = 15.36, SD[subscript age] =…

The present study explores the effect of teachers' authentic leadership in second chance programmes on students' psychological need satisfaction climate (according to self-determination theory), and the manner in which teachers' gender moderates this effect. Data collected from 60 teachers and 183 students in second chance programmes in Israel…

Digital literacy, a prerequisite for online learning, is fostered by active engagement with technology, a concept that is explained by self-determination theory (SDT). This two-study project took the unique opportunity afforded by COVID-19 to explore the effect of technology learning support for SDT-needs satisfaction on digital literacy and the…

Education-based interventions traditionally focus on the teacher to better support pupils' motivation. Grounded in self-determination theory, the study investigates the feasibility of a pupil-focused intervention to help pupils become more active in their search for basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS). Focus groups and a 2-week pupil…