Music Teachers' Psychological Needs and Work Engagement as Predictors of Their Well-Being

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether music teachers' psychological needs and work engagement predicted their well-being. The term "well-being," referring to human optimal condition, was adopted from self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Participants (n = 218) completed a survey that consisted of the Music Teacher Engagement Scale, the Music Teachers' Psychological Need Measure (comprised of autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and the Subjective Well-Being Inventory (Sell & Nagpal, 1992). We conducted a stepwise multiple regression analysis using work engagement, autonomy, competence, and relatedness as the predictor variables and a composite wellbeing rating scale score as the criterion variable. For music teachers with 0 to 9 years and 30-plus years of experience, relatedness was the stronger predictor of well-being. However, among teachers who had 10 to 19 and 20 to 29 years of experience, competence was determined as a strong predictor.