Emma L. Bradshaw

In this meta-analysis, we examine the association between teacher well-being and ill-being with student motivation and achievement. Based on 186 articles, 811 effect sizes, and data from 355,637 teachers, we investigate these relationships through the lens of the Job Demands–Resources Model, Transactional Stress Model, Self-Determination Theory, and the PERMA model. Using three-level meta-analytic models, we found small to moderate associations between student outcomes and teacher well-being ( r = .18) and ill-being ( r = –.13). These associations were similarly patterned across student motivation and student achievement, with no significant differences by outcome type. Associations were also comparable across domains of teacher functioning with no significant differences by domain. Moderator analyses indicated stronger associations in secondary school settings. Associations were also larger when teacher and student variables were reported by the same informant, although this difference reached conventional significance only for teacher ill-being and approached significance for teacher well-being. These findings suggest that teacher well-being and ill-being show reliable but modest associations with student motivation and achievement across a diverse body of research, though the evidence remains largely correlational. Given this correlational nature and the influence of measurement source, future longitudinal and intervention research is needed to clarify causal mechanisms and the direction of effects.

The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the non-medical conditions that shape people’s health and development (Alderwick & Gottlieb, 2019). Such conditions include the settings and systems int...

Teachers’ motivational behaviours play a critical role in shaping student outcomes, but commonly used measurement approaches rely on self-report or observation. These are vulnerable to bias and practical constraints, limiting rigorous theory testing and intervention research. To overcome these limitations, and building on advances in language-based behavioural analysis, we developed a phrase-based coding framework for classifying teachers’ motivational language based on Self-Determination Theory. We first compiled a pool of candidate phrases. Experts reviewed this pool to ensure face validity and refinement, resulting in the full, unfiltered dictionary. In the training set, transcripts from the most and least need-supportive teachers—as determined by observers—were compared using weighted log odds ratios to identify phrases more characteristic of each group. We then filtered the dictionary using these odds ratios, resulting in the filtered dictionary. The expert-derived dictionary consisted of 227 words (149 need-supportive and 82 need-thwarting). Correlations between dictionary-based and observer ratings were moderate and significant for the unfiltered dictionary (r = .34), comparable to inter-observer agreement, rating the same lesson (r = .32). Filtering the dictionary improved accuracy on the training set (r = .49) but decreased accuracy on the test set compared to the unfiltered dictionary (r = .64 vs. .73). This phrase-based framework provides a cost-efficient and reliable method for analysing teachers’ motivational language. It appears to perform comparably to human observers in predicting need-supportive teaching and offers a practical tool for teacher education, as well as a theoretically grounded basis for training more advanced models.

Self-determination theory (SDT) has become a leading theory of motivation and wellness, and research in this area continues to grow each year. In this special issue we highlight a few recent and novel directions in SDT research, including its application to new areas such as compliance with laws and anti-racism, interdisciplinary interfaces with fields including philosophy and data science, and new methodological innovations applying computational modelling, databasing, economics, and neuroscience. We particularly highlight how SDT can be applied to socially complex issues outside the traditional scope of psychological research. We hope this special issue highlights both the narrow and broad implications and applications of the theory and the new directions it might take.

Psychological and motivational factors are implicated in various medical conditions, yet the link between physical health and life aspirations, as defined in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), remains underexplored. To address this gap and advance theory, we conducted a preliminary investigation of associations between aspirations and self-reported symptoms across five functional medical conditions—gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), headaches, sleep disturbances, and sexual dysfunction. We surveyed 392 Canadian medical patients (Mage = 42.8 years, SD = 12.7, 50.5% women, 82.1% white, 75.3% with higher education) to assess whether the relative importance, likelihood, and attainment of intrinsic (e.g., personal growth, relationships, community, health) and extrinsic (e.g., wealth, fame, image) aspirations were associated with symptoms. Consistent with hypotheses, greater relative prioritization of intrinsic goals was linked to fewer symptoms—especially sleep disturbance—while extrinsic aspirations were associated with increased symptoms, particularly GERD. Sociodemographic factors, such as age, gender, education, religiosity, and subjective financial status, also showed associations with goal orientations and symptom burden, broadly aligning with SDT predictions. Findings highlight the potential relevance of people’s personal goals in patient-centered care for functional conditions and underscore the need for further research exploring mechanisms and moderators of these effects.

Self-determination theory's (SDT) dual process model claims that parental autonomy support relates positively to child well-being, while psychologically controlling parenting is linked positively to child ill-being. We tested these claims using a combination of one-stage and univariate meta-analytic structural equation modeling with moderation (k = 238; n = 1,040, N = 126,423). In the univariate models, parental autonomy support was linked positively with child well-being, r = 0.30, 95% CI [0.26, 0.33], whereas parental psychological control was positively linked with child ill-being, r = 0.26, 95% CI [0.23, 0.28]. Consistent with SDT's dual process model, the one-stage model that controlled for the intercorrelations between predictors showed that parental autonomy support and psychological control had distinct links to child wellness outcomes. Parental autonomy support was linked positively with child well-being, even when accounting for psychological control, r = 0.26, 95% CI [0.20, 0.31], and parental psychological control was positively linked to child ill-being, controlling for autonomy support, r = 0.20, 95% CI [0.17, 0.23]. Crucially, the beneficial effects of parental autonomy support and the costs of psychological control applied across regions, degrees of national individualism and cultural hierarchy, as well as child developmental periods and sexes. These results help move the field beyond debates about whether autonomy is beneficial toward questions about manifestations of autonomy across groups and variations in its optimal support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).