A multidimensional investigation of students' perceived pressure from a self-determination theory perspective-An empirical investigation of German upper secondary level students

According to self-determination theory, students' motivation and their learning success depend on the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. However, schools are often characterised by pressure and external demands. This has a negative impact on students' learning. Especially from a self-determination theory perspective, there are only few investigations focusing on students' perception of pressure. These desiderata are addressed in the current study. First, a measurement was developed to evaluate students' perceived pressure caused by different stressors. Explorative factor analyses revealed three dimensions of pressure: time pressure, pressure by performance requirements, and pressure by teachers. Second, the three-factor structure could be replicated with another sample. To investigate to what extent the three dimensions of perceived pressure may be related to students' basic need satisfaction, structural equation modeling was conducted. The perception of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are predicted to varying degrees by the different dimensions of pressure.