Not All Thwarting Is Equal: Distinct Temporal Patterns Linking Teachers' Psychological Needs to Turnover Intention.
7 affiliations
- 1Faculty of Education, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China.
- 2Department of Life Sciences, Changzhi University, Changzhi, China.
- 3School of Business, Zibo Polytechnic University, Zibo, China.
- 4School of Computer and Information Engineering, Dezhou University, Dezhou, China.
- 5Faculty of Education, Yunnan Normal University, Yunnan, China.
- 6School of Artificial Intelligence, Hubei Preschool Teachers College, Wuhan, China.
- 7Chinese Academy of Education Big Data, Faculty of Education, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China.
Abstract
Background
Teacher turnover intention has become a critical global concern, compromising teachers' psychological well-being, school workforce stability, and student learning outcomes. While psychological need thwarting (PNT) is recognized as a key antecedent of turnover intention, existing research has predominantly treated PNT as a unidimensional construct and overlooked the possibility that turnover intention may reciprocally shape teachers' subsequent need experiences. Integrating self-determination theory and conservation of resources theory, this study employed a two-wave cross-lagged panel model to examine bidirectional associations between the three PNT dimensions and turnover intention among Chinese teachers.Methods
Data were collected from 1,061 teachers at Time 1 and 812 at Time 2 under a design permitting voluntary, wave-specific participation, with 332 teachers participating in both waves (M age = 41.19 years, SD = 9.13; 69.6% female); cross-lagged models controlling for gender and age were estimated using full information maximum likelihood, drawing on all available observations from 1,541 unique participants, with school ownership and school type incorporated into the missing-data model.Results
An asymmetric temporal pattern emerged: among the three dimensions, only autonomy thwarting predicted subsequent turnover intention (B = 0.09, 95% CI [0.01, 0.17], β = 0.12, p = 0.023), whereas turnover intention predicted later competence thwarting (B = 0.22, 95% CI [0.02, 0.41], β = 0.11, p = 0.031) and relatedness thwarting (B = 0.19, 95% CI [0.01, 0.37], β = 0.13, p = 0.048) but not autonomy thwarting (B = 0.08, 95% CI [-0.07, 0.24], β = 0.06, p = 0.276). Although these cross-lagged effects were small in magnitude, they demonstrated distinct directional patterns across the three needs.Conclusion
These findings suggest that turnover intention may function not only as an outcome of adverse need experiences but also as an antecedent of subsequent need states. This asymmetric pattern points to potentially relevant intervention targets: autonomy support for teachers who have not yet developed turnover intention, and competence and relatedness support for those already considering leaving.
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BibTeX
@article{song2026thwarting,
title = {{Not All Thwarting Is Equal: Distinct Temporal Patterns Linking Teachers' Psychological Needs to Turnover Intention.}},
author = {Qi Song and Xiao-Yan Zou and Cong Liu and Shan Xu and I-Hua Chen},
journal = {Brain and behavior},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/brb3.71861},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42949215},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Not All Thwarting Is Equal: Distinct Temporal Patterns Linking Teachers' Psychological Needs to Turnover Intention.
AU - Qi Song
AU - Xiao-Yan Zou
AU - Cong Liu
AU - Shan Xu
AU - I-Hua Chen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Brain and behavior
DO - 10.1002/brb3.71861
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42949215
AB - Background Teacher turnover intention has become a critical global concern, compromising teachers' psychological well-being, school workforce stability, and student learning outcomes. While psychological need thwarting (PNT) is recognized as a key antecedent of turnover intention, existing research has predominantly treated PNT as a unidimensional construct and overlooked the possibility that turnover intention may reciprocally shape teachers' subsequent need experiences. Integrating self-determination theory and conservation of resources theory, this study employed a two-wave cross-lagged panel model to examine bidirectional associations between the three PNT dimensions and turnover intention among Chinese teachers.Methods Data were collected from 1,061 teachers at Time 1 and 812 at Time 2 under a design permitting voluntary, wave-specific participation, with 332 teachers participating in both waves (M age = 41.19 years, SD = 9.13; 69.6% female); cross-lagged models controlling for gender and age were estimated using full information maximum likelihood, drawing on all available observations from 1,541 unique participants, with school ownership and school type incorporated into the missing-data model.Results An asymmetric temporal pattern emerged: among the three dimensions, only autonomy thwarting predicted subsequent turnover intention (B = 0.09, 95% CI [0.01, 0.17], β = 0.12, p = 0.023), whereas turnover intention predicted later competence thwarting (B = 0.22, 95% CI [0.02, 0.41], β = 0.11, p = 0.031) and relatedness thwarting (B = 0.19, 95% CI [0.01, 0.37], β = 0.13, p = 0.048) but not autonomy thwarting (B = 0.08, 95% CI [-0.07, 0.24], β = 0.06, p = 0.276). Although these cross-lagged effects were small in magnitude, they demonstrated distinct directional patterns across the three needs.Conclusion These findings suggest that turnover intention may function not only as an outcome of adverse need experiences but also as an antecedent of subsequent need states. This asymmetric pattern points to potentially relevant intervention targets: autonomy support for teachers who have not yet developed turnover intention, and competence and relatedness support for those already considering leaving.
SN - 2162-3279
ER -