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- MakaleAçık Erişim2026Scopus SJRQ1The Relational Online Learner: Self-Directed Learning, University Belonging, and Student Engagement in Online Higher Education from a Self-Determination Theory Perspective
Kayalı, Bünyami; Yavuz, Mehmet; Üstün, Ayşin Gaye; Uçar, Hasan; Erdoğdu, Erdem; Aydemir, Mesut; Bozkurt, Aras
We examined the relationships between self-directed learning skills, university belonging, and student engagement in open online and distance learning environments within the framework of Self-Determination Theory. The research was conducted using a correlational survey model. Data were collected from 696 university students enrolled at a large-scale open, online and distance learning institution in Türkiye. We used three instruments measuring self-directed learning skills, university belonging, and student engagement. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that university belonging significantly and positively predicts all dimensions of student engagement. While self-control skills, learning skills, and sustaining the desire to learn significantly explain university belonging, metacognitive awareness and ability to identify sources were found to have no significant effect. Furthermore, it was found that university belonging acts as a significant mechanism in the relationships between self-control skills, learning skills, and sustaining the desire to learn, and student engagement. In this open and distance learning context, student engagement was not explained by individual learning skills alone. University belonging may therefore be one mechanism that partly accounts for the association between self-directed learning and academic participation. The study contributes by testing self-directed learning at the level of its dimensions, by identifying university belonging as a mechanism that partly accounts for its association with engagement, and by situating this model in a large-scale open and distance learning setting.
- MakaleAçık Erişim2026Scopus SJRQ1The association of psychological need dissatisfaction with problematic digital gaming: Mediating roles of EPOCH well-being and resilience in adolescents
Yayla, Ibrahim Erdogan; Makas, Samet; Gomez-Salgado, Juan; Bayrakci, Cansu; Dombak, Kubra; Çelik, Eyup; Yildirim, Murat
Drawing on self-determination theory, this study examines how EPOCH well-being and resilience mediate the relationship between dissatisfaction with psychological needs and problematic digital gaming. Data were collected via questionnaires from 647 adolescents aged 13-19 (M = 15.80, SD = 1.10), 55.8% of whom were girls, using a convenience sampling method. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Results indicate a significant positive association between dissatisfaction with psychological needs and problematic digital gaming. Moreover, both EPOCH well-being and resilience were found to mediate this relationship. By highlighting the role of psychological resources in adolescence, this study makes novel theoretical and practical contributions to understanding the associations between psychological need dissatisfaction and problematic digital gaming. This is a cross-sectional study, which limits the generalization of the research results. The participants are adolescents attending middle schools in some rural areas of T & uuml;rkiye, which limits the generalizability of the research results to adolescents in other parts of T & uuml;rkiye and the world. Additionally, research data were obtained through self-report scales. This may lead adolescents to respond in line with their developmental perceptions of social desirability.


