Transitions in academic motivation and engagement profiles among middle school students: Basic psychological needs satisfaction as predictors

Abstract Middle school years are a turbulent period for students to develop their adaptive academic motivation and engagement. However, a person‐centered longitudinal investigation on changes in academic motivation and engagement is scarce. Through a two‐wave survey with a four‐month interval, this study investigated the configurations, transitions, and the predictive roles of basic psychological needs satisfaction on transitions in academic motivation and engagement profiles among 502 Chinese seventh graders (261 boys; Mean age = 12.34 at Time 1). Latent profile analysis revealed three profiles at both measurement occasions: highly motivated‐and‐engaged, moderately motivated‐and‐engaged, and demotivated‐and‐disengaged profiles. Latent transition analysis showed that while 61.16% of students maintained their initial profiles, 15.54% transitioned to more adaptive profiles and 24.30% shifted to less adaptive profiles. Notably, autonomy need satisfaction emerged as the protective factor preventing the highly motivated‐and‐engaged students from falling into the moderately motivated‐and‐engaged status. Implications and future research directions for middle school students' motivation and engagement are discussed.