Cross-Cultural Similarities and Differences in Need-Support Profiles: Perspectives From Self-Determination Theory

• In Event: New Directions in Culture and Achievement Motivation: The Roles of Cultural Norms, Mobility, Values, and Beliefs

Abstract

Background/Theoretical Framework: Self-determination theory (SDT) argues for the importance of moderate universality, which emphasizes the cultural significance of need- support and satisfaction while acknowledging the individual and cultural differences in how they are internalized and valued (Ryan & Deci, 2019). One of the core tenets of SDT is the universal importance of need-support (i.e., supporting students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in fostering academic achievement (Vansteenkiste et al., 2020). However, much of the research on need-support has used variable-centered approaches. Furthermore, past studies have primarily focused on the cross-cultural generalizability of autonomy support, with very little attention paid to support for competence and relatedness. Hence, there is a need to explore how students across cultures experience these different types of need-support and whether there are cross-cultural similarities and differences in need-support profiles.

Objectives/Research Questions: This study aimed to explore the generalizability of need-support profiles across Western and Eastern cultures. Three research questions were explored:
RQ1: Are there distinct need-support profiles for students from Eastern and Western cultures?
RQ2: To what extent are the need-support profiles similar or different across Eastern and Western cultures?
RQ3: To what extent is the relationship between need-support profiles and academic achievement similar between the Eastern and Western cultures?

Method/Data: We used the data from PISA 2018 of 65,649 15-year-old students from Eastern (N= 288,08; Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei) and Western (N= 36,841; USA, UK, New Zealand, and Australia) economies. Multiple group latent profile analysis was performed to examine the configural (number of profiles), structural (within-profile means), dispersion (within-profile variability), distribution (profile size), and explanatory (profile-achievement relationship) similarities across Western and Eastern cultures.

Results: We identified both cultural similarities and differences. In terms of similarities, four profiles were identified in both Western and Eastern cultures, entailing low, moderate, and high need-support profiles, as well as the existence of a distinct low relatedness profile (see Table 1 and Figure 6). Second, the four profiles were mostly similar across cultures, with students in the high need-support group enjoying the highest levels of achievement (see Table 2). We also found cultural differences (See Table 3). For the low and moderate need-support profiles, Eastern students reported a lower level of autonomy support but greater structure and relatedness support than their peers in Western cultures. Furthermore, profile size was not supported, with more Western students assigned to the moderate profile (55.48%) and more Eastern students in the low relatedness profile (41.01%).

Significance: This study supports SDT’s moderate universality assumption by showing the partial similarity of the profiles across Western and Eastern cultures (Reeve et al., 2018). Furthermore, this work contributes to the cross-cultural SDT research by considering three types of needs support in tandem from a person-centered perspective. Compared with previous variable-centered studies that mostly focused on needs support in isolation, this study provides a more nuanced and holistic understanding of students’ need-support profiles.

Authors

• Faming Wang, The University of Hong Kong
  Presenting Author

• Ronnel B. King, Chinese University of Hong Kong
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jiajing LI, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shing-On Leung, University of Macau
  Non-Presenting Author