The Relationship between Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction in the Classroom and Academic Risk-Taking: The Mediating Role of Autonomous Learning

Introduction: In many motivational theories, including Clifford's theory from 1988, academic risk-taking plays a crucial role. It is characterized by students' inclination to prefer difficult questions over easy ones, even in the face of potential failure, and it reveals how students can respond to this potential failure. Encouraging students to take risks in an educational environment enhances learning, increases motivation and academic effort, boosts self-esteem, improves the ability to embrace challenges, and fosters a sense of competence.
Thus, academic risk-taking can cultivate students with high self-esteem, adaptability, and resilience who strive more than others for success, growth, and personal flourishing. Numerous studies have shown that various individual and environmental factors can influence academic risk-taking. One significant individual and intrinsic factor is the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. According to Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory, these needs include the need for autonomy, competence, relatedness, and novelty. Satisfying these needs allows individuals to feel valued and well-being, enabling them to make decisions about their quality of life and learning independently of external influences.
Given that the relationship between satisfying basic psychological needs and academic risk-taking is not linear or one-dimensional, another influential factor in academic risk-taking behavior is autonomous learning, which involves a conscious effort to learn and accept responsibility for one's learning. Therefore, examining the mediating role of autonomous learning provides valuable insights into the dynamics of the relationship between satisfying basic psychological needs and academic risk-taking. Our aim is to achieve a deeper understanding of the processes through which the fulfillment of these basic psychological needs, facilitated by autonomous learning, leads to the emergence of risk-taking learners.
Method: This study is correlational, examining causal relationships among research variables through structural equation modeling. The statistical population includes all male and female students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades in Marvdasht (Fars Province) during the 2022-2023 academic year. Following Klein's (2016) criterion of selecting a minimum of 10 to 20 participants per model parameter, three girls' and three boys' schools were randomly chosen from the Marvdasht educational system. From each school, three classes from each grade were randomly selected, and all students completed the research questionnaires. After excluding seven incomplete questionnaires, analysis was conducted on the remaining 413 responses, consisting of 193 girl participants (47%) and 220 boy participants (53%). Inclusion criteria included informed consent and an age range of 11 to 14 years (grades six to eight), while exclusion criteria were non-cooperation and incomplete questionnaires. Ethical considerations involved informing participants of the research purpose, ensuring their freedom to participate or withdraw, and guaranteeing the confidentiality of their information.
Results: The research model demonstrated a good fit with the collected data. The results indicated that students' academic risk-taking is significantly influenced by the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, particularly the need for relatedness. As satisfaction of this need increases among students, their academic risk-taking also rises. Another finding revealed that the satisfaction of the needs for autonomy and relatedness has an indirect effect on students' academic risk-taking through autonomous learning.
Therefore, based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that higher quality and greater satisfaction of basic psychological needs, including the need for autonomy and relatedness, enhances students' autonomous learning, which in turn increases their academic risk-taking. This process contributes to the overall well-being and success of learners.
Discussion and Conclusion: The aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of autonomous learning in the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction in the classroom and academic risk-taking.
The findings showed that among the four dimensions of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness, novelty), only the dimension of the need for relatedness positively and significantly predicted students' academic risk-taking. Based on Bowlby’s attachment theory (1988), this finding can be explained by saying that an individual’s general perception of having a secure and satisfying base leads to a greater tendency to explore the environment, as well as the perception that opportunities for exploration are both available and worth the effort and risk. Therefore, an important outcome of having a secure base along with a strong network of connections is higher self-esteem, a belief in one’s abilities, confidence, increased exploratory behaviors and goal-setting, enhanced learning, exploration, happiness, and ultimately risk-taking. Thus, it can be said that the tendency to accept general risks, which is a prerequisite for academic risk-taking, is somewhat related to having a perception of a secure and satisfying base for meeting basic needs. Another finding of this research showed that among the four dimensions of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness, novelty), the dimensions of the need for relatedness and autonomy positively and significantly predicted students' autonomous learning. In explaining this finding, it can be said that the positive and significant relationship between the need for relatedness and autonomy (dimensions of basic psychological needs) with autonomous learning stems from the fact that autonomous learning arises from the feeling of autonomy while performing tasks and activities. Therefore, when students feel autonomy or independence along with a strong supportive network, they exhibit the highest levels of intrinsic motivation and autonomous learning.
The next finding showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between autonomous learning and academic risk-taking. This finding can be explained by saying that strengthening and improving independent and autonomous learning methods leads to increased academic activities and the active role of the learner in their learning process, as well as creating and reinforcing risk-taking habits in students' academic domains.
The final finding showed that among the basic psychological needs, only the two dimensions of the need for autonomy and the need for relatedness had a positive and significant relationship with academic risk-taking through the mediating role of autonomous learning. In explaining the indirect effect of the need for autonomy and relatedness on academic risk-taking through the mediation of autonomous learning, it can be said that according to self-determination theory, the experience of autonomy and self-direction is associated with higher academic achievements, the freedom to start and continue tasks and behaviors, learning styles, and self-regulation (autonomous learning), which in turn can be a successful predictor of students' academic risk-taking.
It should be noted that the present research is correlational in nature, so caution must be exercised in making causal inferences from the results. It is suggested that since the questioner used in this research was standardized and implemented in Iran for the first time, using questionnaires designed based on the cultural and educational conditions of our country may yield more accurate results. Also, considering that this research was conducted on students in public schools, it is recommended that in future studies, gifted students be compared with regular students in terms of autonomous learning strategies and academic risk-taking.