Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction among Students in Higher Education

When students are internally motivated, they are most likely to maintain interest in learning, to persevere in their learning, and to experience greater academic success. According to self-determination theory, internal motivation is most facilitated by the satisfaction of the person’s basic psychological needs: for autonomy, competence and relatedness. The purpose of this study is to identify the specifics of supporting students’ basic psychological needs among doctoral students in various specialties. Data collection involved administration of the Psychological Need Supports scale, which assessed the satisfaction of basic psychological needs in the context of various relationships. Respondents were 463 doctoral students in six areas of education (physics, earth sciences, biology, chemistry, mathematics, information technology). The presence of differences in the degree of satisfaction and features of support of basic psychological needs in different relationships was revealed. In general, autonomy turned out to be the most satisfied need, and the need for relatedness turned out to be the least satisfied. In the system of close relationships (friends and mother), all three basic psychological needs were supported to a greater extent than in all systems of educational relations at the university. Comparison of various systems of relations at the university among themselves showed that the need for relatedness was most supported by colleagues and a supervisor, and the need for competence was supported by colleagues, while the need for competence was least supported by a supervisor, and the need for relatedness was least supported in the context of group classes. Patterns that emerged were stable over time. There were no differences in need satisfaction based on the field of study with one exception: doctoral students majoring in physics reported higher levels of support for the needs for competence and relatedness. The results provide guidance for supporting the internal motivation among students at higher levels of education.