The role of basic psychological needs and student activities in becoming integrated to university: A diary study among first-year students

The main aim of this study was to investigate how participating in student activities and the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness predict daily integration among higher education students. We investigate integration from both a sociological (academic and social integration) and a psychological perspective (self-congruence), to better converge these perspectives in understanding the integration process. 135 first-year university students participated in a daily diary study spanning one week. The data was analyzed through linear mixed-effects models. We found that daily competence satisfaction and studying alone were positive predictors of academic integrations. For social integration, we found that daily autonomy, studying alone, and end-of-the-week (day 5) were a negative predictor, whereas daily relatedness, and participating in lectures and seminars were positive predictors. For self-congruence, competence and relatedness were positive predictors. Our findings show that there are different mechanisms leading to different forms of integration and potential dynamics between different forms of integration, suggesting that integration is multidimensional and broader in nature than generally operationalized.