Patterns of Thriving and Struggling: Teacher Professional Identity and Psychological Need Profile Membership and Movement Among Pre-Service Teachers
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This longitudinal study examined how pre-service teachers’ psychological need experiences are configured and how teacher professional identity is associated with profile membership and movement across these configurations. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), data were collected from Kuwaiti pre-service teachers across three waves over one academic year. Latent transition analysis was conducted with 317 complete-case participants using autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction and frustration as indicators. A four-profile solution was retained: Flourishing, Moderately Thriving, Need-Frustrated, and Struggling. The label Moderately Thriving is comparative: this profile showed high need satisfaction in absolute terms but somewhat greater need frustration than Flourishing. The decoded profile assignments showed moderate descriptive stability across adjacent waves, with stability rates of 54.6% and 62.1%, though the Struggling profile showed markedly higher persistence than the others. Wave 1 teacher professional identity was associated with profile membership at both Wave 1 and Wave 3. In the dimension-level models, Teacher Self-Efficacy and Commitment to Teaching each showed adjusted associations across profiles and waves, whereas Professional Orientation was associated with profile membership only at Wave 1. Initial professional identity was not significantly associated with improvement or deterioration relative to stability. However, change in professional identity from Wave 1 to Wave 3 was associated with the direction of profile movement: increases were associated with lower odds of deterioration and higher odds of improvement. Because identity change and profile movement were assessed over the same period, the direction of this association cannot be established. These findings complicate a simple protective view of professional identity and suggest that supporting future teachers may require attention to both identity development and need-supportive programme conditions.
Source: Education Sciences
Authors: Yousef Alardhi, Fahad Ameen
Institution: Kuwait University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W7204108448