The relationship between academic motivation and basic psychological needs within the freshman year context: a longitudinal person-oriented approach

Freshman year is a major life event in emerging adulthood requiring adaptation that is associated with self-determination processes, like academic motivation and basic psychological needs. The purpose of this study was to analyze the way that academic motivation and the satisfaction and frustration of the basic psychological needs are interrelated over the freshman year within a longitudinal person-oriented approach. Such a perspective allows for the identification of patterns and configurations that account for each individual’s dynamic nature. The participants were 246 freshmen (84.55% women; Mage = 18.41; SDage = 0.64). The sample was followed longitudinally through two waves. Longitudinal cluster analyses emphasized a diversity of patterns and heterogeneity of evolution. For academic motivation, it revealed four profiles of academic motivation (i.e., combined stable; low autonomous with an increase of amotivation; demotivated stable; amotivated with a decrease) and four profiles of basic psychological needs (i.e., satisfied stable; autonomy frustration becoming undifferentiated; undifferentiated becoming frustrated; frustrated with a decrease). Second, a chi-square test revealed typical relations associating the most and the least adapted profiles. Stable profiles were linked underlying a joint experience of academic motivation, needs satisfaction, and needs frustration. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of considering academic motivation, needs satisfaction, and needs frustration in fostering emerging adult students’ adaptation in the freshman year context.