Social context factors influence basic psychological need satisfaction; a cross-sectional survey among Indonesian adolescents

The Basic Psychological Needs Theory posits that satisfaction of basic psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, competence) is a prerequisite for many positive outcomes, especially the psychological well-being of adolescents. The present study tested the three social context factors (parenting style, friendship quality, and school climate) on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs of adolescents and examined which factors are more unique to Indonesian adolescents. In this cross-sectional survey, we included 1500 junior high school students (boys = 717, girls = 783). We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data. The current study revealed that parenting style, friendship quality, and school climate all predict the basic psychological needs satisfaction. Parenting style and friendship quality are likely to become stronger contributors to better satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs than school climate. This finding was consistent for gender and type of school categories. The current study will contribute to in-depth analysis on designing an effective future intervention program in improving adolescents’ psychological needs satisfaction that can improve adolescent’s psychological well-being.