Effects of teachers' interpersonal styles on psychological needs and engagement in college students in China.

The present study examined the relationship between teachers' autonomy support and control interpersonal styles, psychological needs, and engagement. Based on the online survey, participants were 734 college students in China. The results showed that teacher autonomy support was positively associated with psychological need satisfaction, whereas teacher control was positively associated with psychological need frustration. No significant relationship was found between teacher control and psychological need satisfaction. Psychological need satisfaction was positively associated with engagement (behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, cognitive engagement, and agentic engagement). Whereas Psychological need frustration was negatively associated with engagement (behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement). In the relationship between teacher interpersonal and engagement, perceived autonomy support was found to have mediating effect, while control was shown to have a partly mediating effect. Therefore, teachers interpersonal can improve students' engagement (i.e., enthusiasm for class participation through interest, consideration, care, support), and effective communication to satisfy students' psychological needs, which is important for teachers.