International College, Krirk University, Bangkok, Thailand.
School of Foreign Languages, Shandong Women's University, Jinan, China.
Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 18;11:1299929. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1299929. eCollection 2023.
In light of the significant impact that teachers have on education quality and student growth, their mental health warrants special attention. With the increasing popularity of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the rise of online teaching during the pandemic, teachers have become a group prone to developing problematic smartphone use (PSU). Psychological need thwarting (PNT) has been shown to be closely related to PSU, psychological distress, and perceived administrative support. However, most previous studies have adopted a variable-centered approach, which may overlook the possibility that the three basic needs are not closely associated and could form distinct profiles. Therefore, this study aims to apply latent profile analysis to identify different PNT profiles and their associations with PSU, psychological distress, and perceived administrative support.
A longitudinal survey was conducted using convenience and purposive sampling methods. The survey involved 1,642 primary and middle school teachers working in China over a two-month interval, with the first assessment in November 2021 (Time 1) and the second in January 2022 (Time 2).
The results indicate that a three-profile model, intricately based on the PNT data gathered at Time 1, is most optimal: Class 1 is labeled as 'High autonomy-High competence and Moderate relatedness thwarting', Class 2 as 'High autonomy-High competence and High relatedness thwarting', and Class 3 as 'Low psychological needs thwarting'. Distinct associations were observed among the three profiles concerning PSU, psychological distress, and perceived administrative support. Specifically, in terms of PSU, the score of Class 2 was higher than Class 1, with that of Class 3 being the lowest at Time 1, while at Time 2 no significant difference was found between any two of these three groups; in terms of distress, the scores of the three profiles were arranged from high to low as Class 2, 1, and 3 at both time points; and in terms of perceived administrative support, the order was just the opposite, with 3, 1, and 2 from high to low at both Time 1 and Time 2.
Notably, the consistent ranking of the three classes in terms of psychological distress and administrative support suggests a lasting influence of PNT. Future studies should explore this enduring impact further by employing additional longitudinal data sets and examining potential mediators or moderators beyond the current study's scope.
鉴于教师对教育质量和学生成长的重大影响，他们的心理健康值得特别关注。随着信息和通信技术（ICT）的日益普及以及大流行期间在线教学的兴起，教师已成为易患智能手机使用问题（PSU）的群体。心理需求挫败（PNT）已被证明与 PSU、心理困扰和感知到的行政支持密切相关。然而，大多数先前的研究采用了变量中心的方法，这可能忽略了三种基本需求并非紧密相关，而是可能形成不同的特征这一可能性。因此，本研究旨在应用潜在剖面分析来识别不同的 PNT 特征及其与 PSU、心理困扰和感知到的行政支持的关联。
使用便利和目的抽样方法进行纵向调查。该调查涉及在中国工作的 1642 名中小学教师，在两个月的时间间隔内进行，第一次评估在 2021 年 11 月（时间 1），第二次在 2022 年 1 月（时间 2）进行。
结果表明，基于时间 1 收集的 PNT 数据，三特征模型是最优化的：第 1 类被标记为“高自主性-高能力和适度相关挫败”，第 2 类被标记为“高自主性-高能力和高相关挫败”，第 3 类被标记为“低心理需求挫败”。在 PSU、心理困扰和感知行政支持方面，这三个特征之间存在明显的关联。具体而言，就 PSU 而言，第 2 类的分数高于第 1 类，第 3 类在时间 1 时的分数最低，而在时间 2 时，这三个群体之间没有发现显著差异；在困扰方面，三个特征的分数在两个时间点均按第 2 类、第 1 类和第 3 类的顺序排列，从高到低；在感知到的行政支持方面，顺序正好相反，在时间 1 和时间 2 时，分数从高到低依次为第 3 类、第 1 类和第 2 类。
值得注意的是，三个特征在心理困扰和行政支持方面的一致排名表明 PNT 的持久影响。未来的研究应该通过使用额外的纵向数据集和检查当前研究范围之外的潜在中介或调节因素来进一步探索这种持久影响。
