Need-support facilitates well-being across cultural, economic, and political contexts: A self-determination theory perspective

Abstract

Background

Self-determination theory (SDT) posits that teachers who engage in need-supportive teaching through satisfying students’ basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness facilitate optimal well-being. However, there are debates about the purported applicability and relevance of need-supportive teaching across cultural, economic, and political contexts.

Aims

This study examined whether need-supportive teaching was associated with students’ subjective, eudaimonic, and cognitive well-being. These relationships were tested across different macro-contexts, including cultural, economic, and political systems.

Sample

We drew on data from 535,512 students across 70 countries. These students came from diverse cultural groups (Western Europe, Eastern-Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, English-speaking, Confucian, Southeast Asia, and Africa and the Middle East), economic systems (high, upper-middle, and lower-middle-income), and political climates (full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid, and authoritarian regimes).

Methods

Confirmatory factor analyses, structural equation modelling, and multi-group invariance tests were conducted.

Results

By and large, need-supportive teaching was associated with better well-being across cultural, economic, and political contexts. However, the magnitude of associations was somewhat different across macro-contexts. Minor deviations from the general pattern were also found in a few cultural groups.

Conclusions

Across the globe, students who perceived their teachers to engage in need-supportive teaching were also more likely to experience better well-being. The results supported the universalist perspective, which recognizes the existence of broad universal patterns alongside contextual differences.