Teacher emotional support and student well-being in higher education: a sequential motivational process via need satisfaction and autonomous motivation

Objective This study examined whether teacher emotional support was associated with university students’ psychological well-being through basic psychological need satisfaction, autonomous motivation, and controlled motivation in Chinese higher education. Methods Cross-sectional survey data from 445 Chinese undergraduate students were analyzed using latent-variable structural equation modeling. Gender and academic year were included as covariates, and indirect effects were evaluated using 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Results The structural model demonstrated excellent fit, χ 2 (313) = 357.39, CFI = 0.992, TLI = 0.991, RMSEA = 0.018, and SRMR = 0.033, and explained 32.5% of the variance in psychological well-being. The sequential indirect association through basic psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation was significant (standardized effect = 0.155, bias-corrected 95% CI [0.092, 0.229]). In contrast, the indirect association through need satisfaction alone and the corresponding pathway through controlled motivation were not significant. Controlled motivation was not significantly associated with psychological well-being (β = 0.018, p = 0.720), and the direct association between teacher emotional support and psychological well-being was also non-significant (β = 0.087, p = 0.246). Conclusion Teacher emotional support was associated with psychological well-being through a significant sequential motivational pathway involving basic psychological need satisfaction and autonomous motivation, supporting the relevance of motivational internalization processes in Chinese higher education.