The essential role of the teacher-student relationship in students' need satisfaction during adolescence

Based on Self-Determination Theory, specifically the mini-theory of Relationships Motivation Theory, the current paper aimed to examine the within and over-time associations between students' perceived need satisfaction and their social relationships with peers and teachers during adolescence. The data stemmed from a large sample (N = 1088; T1 Mage = 13.70, SD = 0.53; T2 Mage = 14.86, SD = 0.57) of German secondary school students, following a two-wave longitudinal research design. Results of cross-lagged panel analysis demonstrate a significant effect of a positive teacher-student relationship at the beginning of the 8th grade on students' need satisfaction (competence, relatedness, autonomy) at the end of the 9th grade, whereby the association with autonomy perception is reciprocal. In contrast, there were no over-time associations with students' perception of their student-student relationships and their need satisfaction.