Autonomy support from support staff in higher education and students' academic engagement and psychological well-being

Abstract

The present research has examined the role of autonomy support provided by support staff in higher education, specifically teaching assistants (TAs), at a university in Japan in Study 1 and political instructors (PIs), at universities in China in Study 2. Self-determination theory was used to derive a model in which autonomy support related to the satisfaction of three core psychological needs, which in turn led to academic engagement and well-being. In Study 1, university students in Japan completed measures of autonomy support, need satisfactions, timely engagement, satisfaction with campus life, and depressive symptoms on two occasions. Results show that autonomy support provided by TAs was positively related to students’ timely engagement and satisfaction with campus life, and negatively related to students’ depressive symptoms. These relationships were mediated by need satisfactions, except for satisfaction with campus life. Results of Study 2 show that autonomy support from PIs was positively related to students' satisfaction with campus life but not mediated by need satisfaction. Implications of autonomy support from non-significant others in educational settings are discussed.