Examining School-Related Determinants of Student Disengagement

• In Event: Explaining Student Outcomes: The Role of School Structures and Context

Abstract

National data on student disengagement show a pervasive trend that currently makes this phenomenon one of the biggest challenges faced by teachers. Much research on student disengagement examines the problem through an indirect framework in which deficiencies in positive social conditions are tested as predictors of disengagement. This study uses a different lens by directly examining how negative social conditions differentially predict the negative outcome of disengagement. Using self-determination theory, this study advances two hypotheses. H1: Student perception of psychological need thwarting will be a stronger predictor of student disengagement than student perception of the lack of psychological need support. H2: The predictive effect of student perceived psychological need thwarting on student disengagement is mediated by student psychological need frustration.

Authors

• Olajumoke Beulah Adigun, University of Oklahoma

• Ashlyn Fiegener, Oklahoma State University

• Curt M. Adams, University of Oklahoma