Higher Education in Times of COVID-19: University Students’ Basic Need Satisfaction, Self-Regulated Learning and Well-Being

In the wake of COVID-19, university students have experienced<br>fundamental changes of their learning and their lives as a whole. Thepresent research identifies psychological characteristics associated withstudents’ well-being in this situation. We investigated relations of basicpsychological need satisfaction (experienced competence, autonomy,and relatedness) with positive emotion and intrinsic learning motivation,considering self-regulated learning as a moderator. Self-reports werecollected from 6,071 students in Austria (Study 1) and 1,653 students inFinland (Study 2). Structural equation modelling revealed competence asthe strongest predictor for positive emotion. Intrinsic learning motivationwas predicted by competence and autonomy in both countries and byrelatedness in Finland. Moderation effects of self-regulated learning wereinconsistent, but main effects on intrinsic learning motivation wereidentified. Surprisingly, relatedness only exerted a minor effect onpositive emotion. The results inform strategies to promote students’well-being through distance-learning, mitigating negative effects of thesituation.