An Authentic Inner Compass and Need Satisfaction as Wellbeing Resources in Bedouin Teaching Students During the COVID-19

Abstract

A growing body of literature suggests that students from underserved backgrounds are more vulnerable to the adverse economic, emotional, and academic effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic. While this vulnerability was attributed to multiple structural and socio-cultural barriers, little attention has been paid to the role of psychological resources in preserving wellbeing in times of crisis and change. Guided by the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the current study examined the role of the authentic inner compass (AIC) and need-satisfaction in predicting the wellbeing of Bedouin students attending teachers' higher education institutes in the south of Israel during the COVID-19. Participants were 84 Bedouin teaching students (84.1% female) who completed online questionnaires addressing the sense of AIC, need-based experiences, psychological distress, and positive affect. Consistent with the propositions of the SDT, we found that a strong and clear sense of AIC, as well as high need satisfaction and low need frustration, were associated with lower distress and higher positive effect in Bedouin teaching students. We have also found that need satisfaction moderated the effect of the AIC on students' wellbeing so that AIC better predicted lower distress and higher positive effect when students' levels of need satisfaction were higher. Our findings lend further support to the importance of the AIC and need satisfaction to optimal functioning even in collectivist cultural contexts that do not prioritize values of autonomy. The current study provides insight into the interplay between AIC and need-based experience by describing the conditions under which AIC may be beneficial for wellbeing in times of crisis.

Bedouin mothers' sense of authentic inner compass as a parenting resource: Relations with autonomy‐supportive parenting and adolescents' well‐being

“…More generally, the finding that both mother's and child's sense of having an authentic inner compass were associated with various positive correlates is consistent with previous research demonstrating that a firm authentic inner compass promotes, or is correlated with, well-being, across widely different cultures (Assor, Benita, et al, 2021;Assor, Soenens, et al 2020;Cohen & Slobodin, 2022;Russo-Netzer & Shoshani, 2020). Together, these studies also support SDT's views (Ryan & Deci, 2017) that the sense of self-authorship (Weinstein et al, 2012) and a deep volitional identification with one's values and aspirations (Sheldon, 2004) is important across cultures.…”

“…Past studies indicate that a firm sense of authentic inner compass predicts, or is associated with, important positive outcomes in adolescents, such as vitality, self‐esteem, sense of meaning, low levels of depression and avoidant attachment, identity commitment, optimal study choice strategies, and resistance to antisocial peer pressure (Assor, Benita, et al, 2020; Assor, Benita, et al, 2021; Assor, Cohen, et al, 2021; Assor, Soenens, et al, 2020; Cohen & Slobodin, 2022; Russo‐Netzer & Shoshani, 2020; Vermote et al, 2023; Yu et al, 2018).…”

Exploring the future-ready graduate attributes across the undergraduate curricula from the eight publicly funded Hong Kong universities in the era of academic entrepreneurism

“…This implies that students are now putting as an enterprising self at the centre of learning and teaching, who should always remain capable of initiating and conducting as well as monitoring and regulating their own learning (Rodriguez, 2013). Meanwhile, teachers should guide and facilitate their students to understand and find appropriate and effective ways for striving to self-organise, self-direct, and self-endorse in ways that allow self-actualisation and sense of volition (Cohen & Slobodin, 2022). In short, a high extent of individual autonomy and personal value rather than social consciousness and collective agency are characterising the prototype of future-ready education.…”