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Autonomy and relatedness are important psychological constructs that are related to a critical task of adolescence, identity development. However, a detailed understanding of the different content of autonomy and relatedness is missing, including their co-occurrence, relationship to identity development, and possible cultural variations. A mixed-methods approach using essay and survey data of N=364 7th grade students (Mage=12.34 years, SDage=0.72, 50.55% female) was used to investigate the three aims of this study: explore (1) the content of autonomy and relatedness, (2) the co-occurrence of these contents, and (3) how these contents are related to heritage cultural and national identity commitment in German-only (n=145), German-hyphenated (n=127), and non-German (n=92) self-identifying adolescents. Our results highlight autonomy and relatedness as multifaceted and separate psychological needs. Depending on the specific aspect of autonomy and relatedness, they may co-occur, be in conflict or enhance one another. Variations across gender and cultural self-identifications highlight the importance of appreciating cultural variations while also recognizing other sources of variation, such as gender, when examining autonomy and relatedness among adolescents. While no direct relationship between autonomy, relatedness, and identity commitment was found, fostering structured opportunities for engagement with heritage culture and national identity could be vital to promoting adolescent well-being.
Hölscher et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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