Parent and teacher autonomy-support in Russian and US adolescents - Commoneffects on well-being and academic motivation

The proposition, derived from self-determination theory (SDT), that autonom y-support has a positive effect on self-motivation and well-being, is exami ned in two distinct cultural settings. Participants were 264 high school st udents from Russia and the United States who completed measures of perceive d parental- and teacher-autonomy-support, academic motivation, and well-bei ng. Means and covariance structure analyses were used to examine the cultur al comparability of measured constructs. Results supported the hypotheses t hat Russian adolescents would perceive parents and teachers as more control ling than U.S. students; and in both samples, perceived autonomy-support wo uld predict greater academic self-motivation and well-being. Results are di scussed in terms of SDT's postulate of a basic human need for autonomy in t he context of cultural variations.