Development and Validation of the Need Supportive and Need Thwarting Interpersonal Behavior Scale in Education
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Teachers' motivational behavior is a key factor influencing students' motivation and a range of learning outcomes. However, there remains a need for a comprehensive, theory-driven instrument that systematically captures the specific behaviors teachers display which either support or thwart students' psychological needs. This study aims to develop and validate a new measure—the Teacher Motivational Behavior (TMB) Scale—according to the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The TMB Scale is expected to provide a valid and reliable assessment of school teachers’ behaviors that support or thwart students' needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The scale will measure students' perceptions of these teacher motivational behaviors in both supportive and thwarting forms. A sample of at least 600 students from high schools in the United States (Grades 7–12; ages 12–18) will report on their teachers' behaviors as well as related psychological and behavioral outcomes. The initial item pool was developed based on expert consensus and teacher input (Ahmadi et al., 2023). To test the construct validity, Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) approaches will be used, and invariance tests will be conducted for gender and grade level. Validity will be assessed through correlations between need-supportive and need-thwarting teacher behaviors and students' basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, as well as perceived autonomy support, perceived competence support, perceived teacher involvement, perceived controlling behaviours, perceived competence thwarting, and perceived relatedness thwarting. The TMB Scale is expected to demonstrate a reliable six-factor structure (2 higher-order dimensions × 3 need domains). This SDT-based instrument will have the potential to serve as a rigorous tool for assessing teacher motivational behaviours in educational contexts.
Institutions: Macquarie University, Ghent University
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7161605243