Latent Profile of Middle School Students' Basic Psychological Needs and Its Association With School Affect, School Burnout, and Achievement

• In Event: Social-Emotional and Motivational Inputs to Success

Abstract

We investigated the latent profiles of middle school students’ basic psychological need satisfaction and need frustration using a person-centered approach. We also examined how different profiles associated with students’ academic functioning including school affect, school burnout and achievement. Latent profile analyses revealed four distinct profiles characterized as Low Satisfaction/Low Frustration, High Satisfaction/Low Frustration, Low Satisfaction/Moderate Frustration, and High Satisfaction/High Frustration. Students in the four profiles also differed in their academic functioning. In particular, students with high need frustration were most likely to experience maladaptive academic functioning. Findings of the present study suggest the importance of considering intraindividual differences in the psychological needs in order to capture more fully the factors that affect students’ motivational dynamics in school.

Authors

• Linjia Zhang, East China Normal University

• Yi Jiang, East China Normal University