Examinations of basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration profiles and their associations with regulatory focus, resilience, and friendship quality in two samples of students from the Pacific region

Abstract To map the complex associations of key antecedents of motivation, this research examined configurations (i.e., profiles) of basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration (of autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in two independent samples of undergraduate students attending universities from two locations in the Pacific region—New Zealand ( N = 385) and Hawaiʻi, USA ( N = 386). Latent profile analyses identified seven profiles in each sample. Of these profiles, in both samples, a high satisfaction and low frustration profile captured the most adaptive pattern of need satisfaction and frustration dimensions and was associated with high/very high levels of eagerness, resilience, and friendship quality factors. In contrast, a low satisfaction and high frustration profile exhibited the most maladaptive combination of need satisfaction and frustration dimensions and had the lowest levels of eagerness and resilience and lower levels of friendship quality than most other profiles. In addition, a profile having low/below average satisfaction and above average/high frustration generally had the poorest friendship quality. These findings provide new and valuable insights into the complex associations of basic psychological needs and into how interrelationships among need satisfaction and frustration dimensions underpin individual differences in eagerness, resilience, and friendship quality. Moreover, they have important educational implications, which are explored in the paper.