Teachers' interpersonal style as a predictor of motivation and perceived competence for work in university students

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Abstract
Introduction/Objective: To test the relationship between the teacher's autonomy support style or controlling style and the perception of competence for work in university students, and to validate for the Brazilian context, four instruments that assess teachers' interpersonal style, basic psychological needs in the educational context and perceived professional competence. Methodology: A total of 263 university students aged between 18 and 48 years participated in the study. Scales were used to assess the teacher's interpersonal style (Controller Style Measurement Scale and Autonomy Support Scale), the satisfaction of basic psychological needs in education (Scale of Satisfaction of Psychological Needs in Education), and the students' perception of professional competence (Professional Competence Perception Scale). Results: The analysis of the psychometric properties revealed acceptable fit indices for the factorial structure of the instruments. The scales showed adequacy, reliability, and replicability. The results of the path analysis confirm that the autonomy support style positively predicts the satisfaction of basic psychological needs in education, the autonomous motivation, the perception of professional competence and the academic performance of students, and the control style negatively predicts the same variables. Conclusion: Autonomy support is important for motivation and perception of competence in university students. The findings of this set of studies highlight the importance of teachers' interpersonal style in promoting motivation and perception of competence for work in university students.

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