Need-supportive teaching is positively associated with students' well-being: A cross-cultural study

Self-determination and perceived learning in online learning communities

This study explores the interplay between Self-Determination (SDT), relatedness, and teaching presence and CoI's presence (teaching, cognitive, and social) in the context of online educational settings within China. Specifically, the study employs the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to investigate the interaction between SDT (Self-Determination, relatedness, and competence) and the perceived learning outcomes (autonomy, competence, and perceived learning). The underlying structure of the study's conceptual framework was analyzed through the measurement model and the discriminant validity assessment. The results show that cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence are significantly associated with autonomy, competence, relevance, and perceived learning. Moreover, cognitive presence and social presence can potentially augment cognitive processes, amplifying the mediating role of relatedness between cognitive presence and learning outcomes.

Navigating the school transition: Within- and between-person associations between adolescents' academic self-efficacy, school relatedness, and intrinsic academic motivation

Adolescents with higher levels of the basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness report better school functioning compared to their peers with lower levels of these needs. This study extended previous work by examining associations in within-person changes of these psychological needs in the school context, with a special focus on the secondary school transition period. We examined within-person relations between academic self-efficacy, intrinsic academic motivation, and school relatedness. Dutch adolescents (N = 290; Mage = 11.58 years, SD = 0.44 at T1) who were in their last year of primary school were followed for four waves across 2 years. Results from random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) showed moderate to strong positive concurrent associations between academic self-efficacy, intrinsic academic motivation, and school relatedness at both the within- and between-person levels. Moreover, within-person increases in school relatedness predicted increases in intrinsic academic motivation 6 months later. Thus, it is vital that researchers, teachers, and educators are aware that social connections and belongingness are important after the school transition for increasing intrinsic academic motivation.

Multidimensional impact of sport types on the psychological well-being of student athletes: A multivariate investigation

The correlation between sports participation and psychological well-being is well-documented, revealing a complex interplay influenced by competition level and cultural context. This is particularly relevant in Korea, where the university sports culture significantly impacts student life. This study evaluates how competitive versus non-competitive sports affect Korean university students' psychological well-being using a quantitative approach with SmartPLS 4 for multi-group analysis. Findings reveal that competitive sports significantly enhance mental toughness and stress management through structured coping mechanisms and robust social support, improving coping strategy effectiveness by 34 % compared to non-competitive sports. Conversely, participants in non-competitive sports experience greater general well-being with a 40 % higher use of informal support. These insights suggest that university sports programs could benefit from targeted interventions incorporating specific coping strategies and social support frameworks tailored to the competitive context. This research underscores the need for precise stress management techniques and resilience-building exercises in sports curricula to optimize psychological well-being across different sports environments in Korean universities.

Cooperative school climates are positively linked with socio-emotional skills: A Cross-National Study

BACKGROUND

Socio-emotional skills are critical to life outcomes such as achievement, well-being and job success. However, existing research has mostly focused on the consequences of socio-emotional skills, with less attention devoted to the role of school climate in the deployment of these skills.

AIMS

This study investigated the role of school climate in socio-emotional skills. More specifically, we investigated whether cooperative or competitive school climates are associated with students' socio-emotional skills.

SAMPLE

Our study utilized data from the OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills, collected from 10 cities across nine countries. Participants were 60,985 students, including 31,187 10-year-olds (49.70% females) and 29,798 15-year-olds (51.6% females).

METHODS

We conducted multilevel structural equation modelling to test whether cooperative and competitive climates were associated with socio-emotional skills. These skills include five broad domain skills and 15 more specific skills: task performance (self-control, responsibility and persistence), emotion regulation (stress resistance, emotional control and optimism), collaboration (empathy, trust and cooperation), open-mindedness (tolerance, curiosity and creativity) and engaging with others (sociability, assertiveness and energy).

RESULTS

Our findings indicated a positive relationship between a cooperative climate and socio-emotional skills. In contrast, the relationship between a competitive climate and socio-emotional skills was primarily negative.

CONCLUSION

This study highlights the contrasting roles of cooperative and competitive climates in students' socio-emotional skills.

Identifying the top predictors of student well-being across cultures using machine learning and conventional statistics

Alongside academic learning, there is increasing recognition that educational systems must also cater to students' well-being. This study examines the key factors that predict adolescent students' subjective well-being, indexed by life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Data from 522,836 secondary school students from 71 countries/regions across eight different cultural contexts were analyzed. Underpinned by Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory, both machine learning (i.e., light gradient-boosting machine) and conventional statistics (i.e., hierarchical linear modeling) were used to examine the roles of person, process, and context factors. Among the multiple predictors examined, school belonging and sense of meaning emerged as the common predictors of the various well-being dimensions. Different well-being dimensions also had distinct predictors. Life satisfaction was best predicted by a sense of meaning, school belonging, parental support, fear of failure, and GDP per capita. Positive affect was most strongly predicted by resilience, sense of meaning, school belonging, parental support, and GDP per capita. Negative affect was most strongly predicted by fear of failure, gender, being bullied, school belonging, and sense of meaning. There was a remarkable level of cross-cultural similarity in terms of the top predictors of well-being across the globe. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Need Support and Need Thwarting: A Meta-Analysis of Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness Supportive and Thwarting Behaviors in Student Populations

In this meta-analysis, we review the nomological networks of six need-supportive and need-thwarting categories, as defined by self-determination theory (SDT), and as they apply to students in educational contexts. We conducted a synthesis of 8693 correlations from 637 samples (N = 388,912). A total of 72 covariates were examined, resulting in 183 meta-analytic effects reported. Results indicate that teachers and parents who experience psychological need satisfaction and well-being are seen as more supportive. Supportive teacher behaviors correlated positively with a range of desired student outcomes, including performance, engagement, and well-being. Thwarting behaviors tended to display the opposite pattern. Our results are consistent with the theoretical expectations of SDT, yet questions remain concerning the incremental validity of these constructs. We highlight the need for further research on (a) factors that cause teachers to provide support and (b) the specific behaviors within each category to distinguish these categories and increase practical utility.

Impact of teacher-student interaction on students' classroom well-being under online education environment

The students' classroom well-being of college students has been widely concerned in online education researches. In order to implement effectively online education in colleges and universities, based on person-context interaction theory, this study investigates a theoretical model of the impact of teacher-student interaction, sound richness, sound pleasure, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness on students' classroom well-being. By surveying 349 college students receiving online education, the research hypotheses are tested by the structural equation model approach. Research results show that: teacher-student interaction, sound richness, sound pleasure, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness appreciably improve students' classroom well-being, the sound richness and the students' perceived ease of use can moderate the effect of teacher-student interaction on students' classroom well-being. Finally some pedagogical implications are discussed.

The ECO VI Organizational Climate Scale: An Invariance Study in Four Latin American Countries

Introduction

Cross-cultural research is fundamental for the development and validation of work and organizational theories and to guide evidence-based practices around the globe. Although organizational climate is one of the most investigated higher-level constructs in organizational psychology, there is a lack of research analysing the invariance of measurements across national cultures in Latin America. This prevents scientists and practitioners from having a deeper understanding of this variable across the different countries and cultures composing this continent.

Objectives

This study aims at examining the measurement invariance of the Encuesta de Clima Organizacional scale in its VI version (ECO VI) in Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Dominican Republic.

Method

Data were gathered from 38 companies operating in the manufacturing sector based in the four abovementioned countries and the sample sizes were as follows: Colombia was represented by 1007 employees, Costa Rica by 1090 employees, Panama by 372 employees, and Dominican Republic by 213. Measurement invariance was examined by testing the configural, metric, scalar, and structural models of invariance.

Results

The results supported with empirical evidence that the ECO VI scale is characterized by measurement invariance. More precisely, 6 of its 8 dimensions are unbiasedly interpreted and can be considered for making meaningful comparisons across the considered national cultures, while the outputs deriving from the dimensions of "resources availability" and "interpersonal relationships" should be treated with more caution. Indeed, for such dimensions support for only configural and metric invariance was found.

Conclusions

The main contribution of the present study was to provide evidence about the measurement invariance of the ECO VI scale. Thus, providing the community of scientists and practitioners operating in different Latin American countries with a molar organizational climate scale that can be used for conducting cross-cultural research. Hence, it is now possible to have a deeper understanding of how theories and practices involving the organizational climate for well-being can be better applied across the countries and cultures composing this continent.

Interpersonal Behaviors Questionnaire (IBQ) applied to parenting of emerging adults: dimensional structure and criterion validity

BACKGROUND

The prolonged transitions to adulthood strengthen interest in parenting characteristics that can shape emerging adults' development and progression to full-fledged adulthood. It also strengthens interest in instruments suitable for measuring such parenting characteristics. The current study contributes to this area of research by applying the Interpersonal Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), to assess parenting behaviors that are pertinent for emerging adults' development and wellbeing, and seeks evidence of its dimensional structure and criterion validity.

METHOD

The sample of the study consisted of 600 emerging adults (M_age = 24.94, SD_age = 3.03, range 19-29 years; 52.3% women). The dimensionality of IBQ was assessed by testing a sequence of theoretically plausible models representing alternative factor score structures. Criterion validity was investigated by exploring the associations between the IBQ dimensions and basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, negative affectivity, and thriving.

RESULTS

The findings provide evidence of a hypothesized six-factor structure, but advocate for the use of exploratory structural equation as it may more accurately reflect associations between the six dimensions. Findings also provide evidence of criterion validity.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that IBQ applied to parenting targets dimensions highly relevant for EAs' flourishing or impoverished functioning. Findings also offer evidence of structure and criterion validity for the IBQ applied to emerging adults' parent behaviors. As such, researchers may find IBQ attractive, as it is relatively concise yet also a holistic measure that captures the behaviors that both support and thwart an emerging adult's need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings also shed light on the process of becoming an adult, the shift in parent-child relationships during this process, and emerging adults' wellbeing.

What makes a student feel vital? Links between teacher-student relatedness and teachers’ engaging messages

Recent studies suggest that teacher messages can affect students’ well-being. Using a multilevel, variable, and person-centred approach, this study aimed to identify profiles of students according to their teachers’ use of engaging messages and analyse the relation among these profiles and teacher-student relatedness and students’ subjective vitality. A total of 1209 students participated in the study. At the student-level, profile analysis indicated the existence of four different profiles: the few messages profile, the autonomous motivational appeals profile, the loss-framed messages profile, and the gain-framed messages profile. At the teacher level, profile analysis indicated the existence of two profiles: the variant and the invariant profiles. Results showed that overall, at both levels of analysis, teachers’ engaging messages related with teacher-student relatedness (either positively or negatively) with clear differences among profiles. Moreover, also at both levels of analysis, teacher-student relatedness related with students’ subjective vitality. Main findings and implications for practice are discussed.