Exploring Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs in relation to Academic Engagement of Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The satisfaction of basic psychological needs and academic engagement are significant aspects for the optimal development of students. It contributes to enhancing students’ psychological well-being. The present study is mainly focused on investigating the relationship between Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs (BPNS) and Academic Engagement of undergraduate students. Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction (BPNS) is one of the six mini theories of Self-Determination Theory. According to this theory, the three basic needs in human life are autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Satisfaction of these three basic needs leads to a self-determined individual. And academic engagement is also another comprehensive aspect of students’ positive outcome during college life. In this study, academic engagement denotes students’ course engagement. It defines undergraduate students’ skills, emotions, participation, interaction, and performance engagement. This study is an attempt to explore how three basic psychological needs contribute to the academic engagement of undergraduate students. The sample consists of 120 undergraduate students including both male and female of Arts stream of Nowgong College (Autonomous). In the present study, the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale in General developed by Deci & Ryan (2000), and Academic Engagement is measured by using the Student Course Engagement Questionnaire developed by Handelsman et al., (2005) are used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, Pearson correlation, and SPSS are employed to analysis the data. The findings showed that no significance difference between male and female undergraduate students in satisfaction of basic psychological needs. However, a significant difference between male and female undergraduate students was found in their academic engagement. Further findings indicated that satisfaction of basic psychological needs is positively correlated with academic engagement. Hence, Satisfaction of basic psychological needs and academic engagement contributes the holistic development of students.