Perceived teacher's autonomy support and social-emotional outcomes in students: Mediating effect of need satisfaction

Underpinned by self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci in Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Publications, 2017), the study was to explore how perceived teacher's autonomy support (PTAS) is related to students' social and emotional learning (SEL) and to examine whether the relationships are achieved through the satisfaction of students' basic psychological needs. The current sample involved 130 Singapore primary school students aged between 10 and 11 years. Results indicated that need satisfaction significantly mediated the relationships between PTAS and self-efficacy, PTAS and resilience, as well as PTAS and test anxiety, respectively. The current findings revealed that an autonomy-supportive environment enhances positive social-emotional outcomes via need satisfaction. Therefore, it is suggested that using autonomy support in school could be an effective approach to help satisfy students' psychological needs, which in turn allow students to build their self-efficacy and resilience while alleviating test anxiety.