„MYNEEDZ“ Psychische Grundbedürfnisse von Jugendlichen – Eine internationale Fragebogenstudie zur subjektiven Bedürfnisbefriedigung in verschiedenen Lebenswelten

Objective and theory. This cumulative dissertation examines the subjectively perceived satisfaction of basic psychological needs among adolescents (aged 13 to 18) in the life areas of family, school and social media in different cultural contexts. The work is based on Grawe's consistency theory, which is complemented by perspectives from developmental and needs-based psychology as well as cultural studies.
Methodology. Methodologically, three (cultural) comparative cross-sectional studies were conducted using standardised questionnaires: Study 1 (N = 214; Germany/Peru) used the GBKJ-SB, Studies 2 (N = 1.317; Germany/Italy) and 3 (N = 155; comprehensive vs. clinic schools) used the further developed MYNEEDZ questionnaire. Psychometric testing has shown high reliability (α/Ω > .80) and discriminatory power; a limited CFA fit (RMSEA/SRMR acceptable, CFI/TLI reduced) indicates systemic interdependencies in young people's life areas. The statistical analysis includes t-tests, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, MANOVA/ANCOVA and GLM procedures.
Results. Adolescents living in Germany report higher values in terms of satisfaction of the basic need for orientation/control than those in Peru, while girls living in Peru report a higher self-esteem. Adolescents in Italy show higher values in term of subjective psychological satisfaction of basic needs in family and school. In Germany girls report the lowest values of basic psychological need satisfaction in relation to school, while special needs students report higher values than secondary school students. Young people at hospital schools experience higher subjective psychological need satisfaction in social media than comprehensive school students, while retrospective assessments of their regular school are significantly lower than those of the hospital school.
Interpretation/implication. The results demonstrate the role of cultural norms, institutional protective factors and digital contexts in satisfying basic psychological needs from the perspective of adolescents. The dissertation thus contributes to theoretical modelling of adolescents subjective perception of the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, to the methodological development of measuring this construct through the MYNEEDZ questionnaire, and to the deduction of design principles for education-related prevention, intervention and support systems.