Why Did They Leave School? A Self Determination Theory Perspective into Narratives of Finnish Early School Leavers

This is a self-archived version of an original article. This version may differ from the original in pagination and typographic details. Author(s): Title: Year: Version: Copyright: Rights: Rights url: Please cite the original version: CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Why Did They Leave School? A Self Determination Theory Perspective into Narratives of Finnish Early School Leavers © Authors, 2021 Published version Pikkarainen, Merja Tellervo; Hakala, Juha T; Kykyri, Virpi-Liisa Pikkarainen, M. T., Hakala, J. T., & Kykyri, V.-L. (2021). Why Did They Leave School? A Self Determination Theory Perspective into Narratives of Finnish Early School Leavers. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 10(1), 48-72. https://doi.org/10.17583/ijep.2021.5988 2021 Instructions for authors, subscriptions and further details: http://ijep.hipatiapress.com/! Why Did They Leave School? A Self Determination Theory Perspective into Narratives of Finnish Early School Leavers. ! Merja Tellervo Pikkarainen1, Juha T Hakala1, Virpi-Liisa Kykyri1,2 1 University of Jyväskylä (Finland) 2 University of Tampere (Finland) Date of publication: February 24th, 2021 Edition period: February 2021 - June 2021 To cite this article: Pikkarainen, M-T., Hakala, J.T. & Kykyri, V-L. (2021). Why did they leave school? A Self Determination Theory perspective into narratives of Finnish early school leavers. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 10(1), 48-72. https://doi.org/10.17583/ijep.2021.5988 To link this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.17583/ijep.5988 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE The terms and conditions of use are related to the Open Journal System and to Creative Commons Attribution License(CC-BY). IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology Vol. 10 No.1 February 2021 pp. 48-72 2021 HipatiaPress ISSN: 2014-3591 DOI: 10.17583/ijep.2021.5988 Why Did They Leave School? A Self Determination Theory Perspective into Narratives of Finnish Early School Leavers Merja Tellervo Pikkarainen1, Juha T Hakala1, Virpi-Liisa Kykyri1,2 1 University of Jyväskylä (Finland) 2 University of Tampere (Finland) Abstract The present study aims to provide insights into the experiences of early school leavers within the Finnish context. We conducted a narrative inquiry among eleven early school leavers who were in prison when they were interviewed. Self Determination Theory (SDT), more specifically the concept of frustration of the three basic psychological needs of competence, relatedness and autonomy, and the tendency of people to move towards more supporting environments, was used as an interpretative tool, along with contextual information. We identified three pathways out of school, differing in the locus of need thwarting circumstances and the availability of access to transfer into a more satisfying environment. Furthermore, the experienced threat of safety was a shared element in the narrative accounts. Additionally, the findings add information about experienced indifference in the case of the participants, which is a new element in theorising the continuum of perceived need satisfaction within the terms of SDT. Keywords: early school-leaving; Self Determination Theory; need frustration; safety; indifference. IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology Vol. 10 No.1 February 2021 pp. 48-72 2021 HipatiaPress ISSN: 2014-3591 DOI: 10.17583/ijep.2021.5988 ¿Por qué Abandonaron la Escuela? Una Perspectiva de la Teoría de la Autodeterminación en las Narrativas de Jóvenes que Abandonan sus Estudios en Finlandia Merja Tellervo Pikkarainen1, Juha T Hakala1, Virpi-Liisa Kykyri1,2 1 University of Jyväskylä (Finland) 2 University of Tampere (Finland Resumen El presente estudio pretende aportar información sobre las experiencias de jóvenes que abandonan sus estudios en el contexto finlandés. Realizamos la investigación narrativa con once jóvenes que abandonaron sus estudios de manera temprana y que estaban en prisión cuando fueron entrevistados. La teoría de la autodeterminación (TAD), más específicamente el concepto de frustración de tres necesidades psicológicas básicas, competencia, relación y autonomía, y la tendencia de las personas a moverse hacia entornos más favorables, se utilizó como herramienta interpretativa, junto con información contextual. Identificamos tres caminos fuera de la escuela, que difieren en el lugar de la necesidad que frustra las circunstancias, y la disponibilidad de acceso para moverse a un entorno más satisfactorio. Además, la amenaza de seguridad experimentada era un elemento compartido en los relatos narrativos. Además de esto, los hallazgos añaden información sobre la indiferencia experimentada en el caso de los participantes, que es un elemento nuevo cuando se teoriza la continuidad de la satisfacción de la necesidad percibida dentro de los términos de la TAD, Palabras clave: abandono escolar; Teoría de la Autodeterminación; frustración de la necesidad; seguridad; indiferencia Pikkarainen et al.,- Finnish early school leavers 50 xperiences of successful learning and positive interpersonal relationships are important for school engagement (Quin, 2017; Upadyaya & Salmela-Aro, 2013). However, this is not everyone’s experience of school and attempts to understand the reasons for early school leaving show that many experience the opposite (Cederberg & Hartsmar, 2013; Nairz-Wirth & Gitschthaler, 2019; Tuck, 2011). Learning about the subjective perspectives of people slipping out of schooling can widen our understanding of the processes behind early school leaving. Research studies carried out during school years do not reach all early school leavers, though, because they have prematurely already left school. On the other hand, individuals who are still engaged in school in some way, despite having been identified as students at risk, cannot be classified as early school leavers and examined as such. Hence, it is important to reach people who have experienced the issue. In Finland, the leaving rate of compulsory school has been less than a half per cent though showing a slight increase in recent years, now closing to one percent a year (Official Statistics of Finland, 2019a). The discontinuation rates in vocational schooling for young people have been higher, also slightly increasing in recent years, the current rate holding at around 7,4 % (Official Statistics of Finland, 2019b). The turn in the rates indicates current importance to examine the reasons behind early school leaving. Furthermore, there are groups of people which have faced more difficulties in completing their education than the population in general, such as shortterm prisoners (Kivivuori & Linderborg, 2009) and the Finnish Roma (Rajala & Blomerus, 2016), among others. The perspectives of these people, who belong to marginalized groups, and a minority inside a minority, are of special value to be investigated and taken on account as indicators of aspects that may lead to societal exclusion. Hence there is a significant reason for further studies, with methods and theories capable to capture a large range of lived experience. Self Determination Theory (SDT, Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2020) assumes that interest in building relationships with other people, and skill development in learning to master one’s life, are inherent in human nature. Environmental aspects can, though, either foster or undermine these crucial processes which are facilitated by satisfaction of three basic psychological needs, namely autonomy, relatedness, and competence (Ryan & Deci, 2000; Vansteenkiste & Ryan, 2013). Thwarting of these needs and a perceived threat for need satisfaction tend to push people towards other, more promising E IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 10(1) 51 environments (Ryan & Deci, 2000). While SDT research has shown that supporting students’ psychological needs leads to enhanced learning, motivation, and well-being (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009; Stroet et al, 2013), much less is known about how students at risk perceive their life and prospects in school. For instance, Fatima etal, (2018), reported that self-efficacy and social support affected intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, not finding predictions for amotivation. For future development of SDT Ryan and Deci (2020) have recently encouraged also qualitative research approaches, in addition to quantitative studies. Recent studies in Finland have shown that a high number of students at risk are poly-victimized, living among accumulating risk factors (Ellonen & Salmi, 2011). Furthermore, findings of Virtanen (2016), and Vasalampi et al., (2018), highlight the importance of interpersonal relationships for persisting in school. This is in line with the fact that the Finnish Roma, among whom the early school leaving rate is higher than that of the population as a whole (Rajala & Blomerus, 2016), have also faced prejudices (Berlin, 2015; FrimanKorpela, 2014; Roman, 2018). In addition to this, students with a Roma background have been placed in special classes more often than other students (Rajala et al, 2011). Additionally, Honkasilta (2019) found, that students who are openly defined as needing special support may often be prone to experience of otherness. In short, early school leaving seems to be connected to accumulating challenges and obstacles. Self Determination Theory Perspective into Early School Leaving In SDT research, reasons behind students’ amotivation and early school leaving have been linked to low level of students’ perceived satisfaction of their basic psychological needs (Ratelle & Duchesne, 2014; Ryan & Deci, 2000). When the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness are thwarted, or in danger of being thwarted, this decreases students’ motivational level (Cheon et al, 2019; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Vallerand and Ratelle (2002) have proposed, that motivation can be situational, domain-specific, and differ in generality. When people perceive low need support or need thwarting in their daily life, they tend to seek for need satisfaction elsewhere (Ryan & Deci, 2000; Vansteenkiste & Ryan, 2013). Hence, people with low school motivation may experience higher levels of motivation in other life domains, the situation creating a pulling effect out of school. Accordingly, level of motivation may differ within a Pikkarainen et al.,- Finnish early school leavers 52 context and situation, for instance, during a school day or life span (Vallerand & Ratelle, 2002). Thus, early school leavers should not be considered as passive. In SDT terms, they could be described as people searching for need satisfaction elsewhere, when facing need frustrating experiences in school. In this study, we distinguish need thwarting and need frustration as concepts. We understand need thwarting as inadequate qualities of the circumstances and relationships in one’s environment, while we see need frustration as one’s personal experience of the thwarting, as described by Vansteenkiste and Ryan (2013). In SDT, perception of safety is considered a combination of the three needs, autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2000, 335). Chen et al (2015) noticed that people who perceived threat of violence and poverty, increasingly urged for the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs as a whole. We include in the concept of psychological safety both physical and psychological aspects, as well as trust for need satisfaction, which has also been noted to be important for healthy development (Ryan & Deci, 2009). Consequently, experienced threats for need satisfaction are considered as a threat for a person’s psychological safety. Vansteenkiste and Ryan (2013, 265) present two general paths of need perceptions, the first starting from need fulfilment, leading via need satisfaction into healthy growth and wellbeing, and the other starting from need thwarting, leading to need frustration and ending up with maladaptive outcomes, some shifting emerging between paths. Drawn from the dynamics of perceived need frustration and its predicted maladaptive outcomes, we assume, that early school leavers, as amotivated towards school, have faced need thwarting and perceived need frustration while still in school. They can be assumed to have sought for need satisfaction from other sources available for them out of school, thus choosing different kinds of paths from need frustration towards more satisfactory environments. We examine two research questions: 1. What kind of life events and circumstances, as well as personal experiences participants link with their early school leaving? 2. What kind of pathways out of school can be identified in the narrative accounts? Methodological and Ethical Considerations We have chosen to conduct a hermeneutic-interpretive study to widen our understanding of reasons behind early school leaving. In the present study we IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 10(1) 53 examine experiences indicating lack of support for psychological needs, by combining narrative interviews of early school leavers and SDT framework. Based on the interviews, we will be able to provide rich descriptions of, and build a deeper understanding about the underlying factors behind diminishing school motivation. We apprehend lived experience as a rich source of information, a continuum, shaped by telling, reflecting and new experiences, as conceptualized by Dewey (1997, [1938]), Bruner (2004) and Clandinin (2013). Narrative, i.e. storied experience, is understood in this study as a subjective, contextual window for learning about phenomena, which participants identify as important in their life situation. This view of experience differs ontologically from that of quantitative methods, where the conceptualising of experience or perception is predefined by researchers in questionnaires, as is the case among the research body of SDT (Ryan & Deci 2020; Stroet et al, 2013). We refer to the concept of perception, as it is used to describe people’s responses to psychological needs in SDT (Ryan & Deci 2000) and concept of experience as a subjective phenomenon. As Clandinidn et al. (2018) have stated, narrative inquiry, being based on personal experience and interaction between the researcher and the participant, is an ethical act from beginning to end. To avoid causing any harm to the participants, we found it crucial to engage in the ethics of respect and confidentiality as suggested by Josselson (2007). The context and situational aspects of the meeting, as well as the backgrounds of the participant and the interviewer, and what they represent to each other, have an impact on the interaction between them, and hence also on what is told (Lessard et al, 2018). To reach people with lived experience of early school leaving, we conducted research interviews among early school leavers in prison. People who live in the margins of society often face multiple challenges in daily coping (Ellonen & Salmi, 2011), which creates variation in life settings. Prison as a context, where people are separated from their daily activities, provides a relatively stable space for research interviews, more similar to each other with each participant than it would be possible to arrange in the midst of their daily lives, as well as mental space for memorising, telling, and reflecting for the subjects (Granfelt, 2017).The first author, who also conducted the research interviews, has a background in teaching. In this study, she aimed to provide an invitation to encourage talk about school and the things the participants would find important to be heard by the representative Pikkarainen et al.,- Finnish early school leavers 54 of school as an institute. Furthermore, as Josselson (2007) highlights, the process of telling and being heard as itself, triggers the participant’s reflective thinking and enriches his or her meaning-making of the past events that were told, as well as gives a sense of meaning for the act of telling about personal experiences. Interviewing participants who are positioned in the margin of society calls for careful consideration of power relations (Josselson, 2007). Crimmins (2016) suggests that to balance the power relations, the researcher should speak with others rather than for others, placing herself explicitly as an author in research text. To enhance this and provide access to interviews for the readers, we have included not only turns of the participants, but also turns of the interviewer, as well as presented all relevant facts that the participants had felt important enough to reveal concerning their background (Table 1). Participants, Interviews, and Data Management We started the interviewing process with two pilot interviewees, known by the first author, who were not imprisoned. After that, in collaboration with contact persons named by prison directors, we recruited the participants by providing an information leaflet about the study for potential participants. Eleven early school leavers, six of which were women, volunteered. Seven participants described themselves as Finnish Roma, while four represented the Finnish majority. All participants were Finnish speaking, which was also the language of the interviews. The interview extracts presented in this paper were first translated into English by the first author, who can provide the Finnish originals on request, and then proof-read by a native English speaker. All names in narratives and interview extracts are replaced by pseudonyms. Permission for research interviews was granted by the Finnish Ministry of Justice, and the research procedures followed the guidelines of the Ethical Committee of Jyväskylä University. All participants signed an informed consent after having received written and verbal information about the study by the contact person and the interviewer. The first author conducted the interviews between November 2015 and June 2017. With each interviewee we carried out three meetings, which took place within three months for each participant. This procedure was used with nine participants. In four cases, the interview processes were shorter, consisting of two meetings in two cases and one meeting in the additional two IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 10(1) 61 thwarting of autonomy was present in all the narratives in a more indirect way, through lack of support for developing skills needed for self-determined choices later in life. The Roma participants also talked about the prejudices they had to overcome to gain the acceptance of their peers. Four Roma participants even shared experiences of becoming openly rejected by peers and their parents. In addition to this, two of the Roma participants said that their families avoided other Roma families. Richard: “My uncle killed a gypsy man, and after that we moved to Sweden, since then we had to move every year, always to a new city. So, I wanted to go to school even less.” Interviewer: “Yes, into a new place and…” Richard: “Always new kids, they bullied us… I don’t think they would have bullied us if we were not gypsies” The family relationships inside the Roma group and the power relationships between the Roma minority and the surrounding majority left a narrow space for Richard and his family. At the age of fifteen Richard stopped going to school and moved back to Finland. The interviewer asked about that in the second meeting. The interviewer: “You told about your decision not to go to school anymore… how was it?” Richard: “Ay, I had other things to do!” The interviewer: “Was it just like that, did you just stay at home?” Richard: “No it was not like that. I went to other cities to visit people, with the kids of my (extended) family. I don’t remember it so clearly, but... did the teachers come to my home? Maybe for an hour or two… I wasn’t at school because of that (visiting relatives), too… I felt I was too big to go to school… took my first wife when I was fifteen.” From Richard’s point of view the school was not interested in him, nor was he interested in school. He had other matters in his mind and went for them. Tuomas, was also spending a lot of time out of school during his childhood. Tuomas described his peers as being too childish for him, because he “had already seen so many things”. He recounted how he used to go loitering in the city during school hours, from the first grade on. The fact that he was later taken into care by child welfare authorities indicates a lack of parental care. After he had developed drug dependency with heroine at the age of thirteen, Tuomas ended up in a life dominated by drug abuse and crimes. From his Pikkarainen et al.,- Finnish early school leavers 62 point of view, the better need satisfying environment, compared to school, was out in the city and its surroundings. There was no school in the village where the first pilot interviewee, Iiro, was born. Therefore, he had to live as a lodger in families near the school. Iiro described the fragility of his daily care during the first six grades, between eight and twelve years. “There was no decent care. I had to warm up my room, by firewood, this could have been dangerous. Just weekends at home… after school we gathered in the school yard with other boys. Once I sang there some stupid songs… our teacher overheard it and shouted that if I don’t stop, I must not come to the school yard again… I was like... where can I go then?” Throughout the interviews, Iiro repeatedly talked about his teacher between third and sixth grades, who was harsh and angry. Iiro said that he was afraid of asking for help with mathematics, which was a difficult subject for him. This teacher had a habit of revealing poor achievement to the whole group. Iiro remembered that he tried to hide his mathematics test, but the teacher took his paper and showed it to the others. Iiro explained that he did not understand much about mathematics but was too afraid to ask for help. The atmosphere during handicraft lessons was another issue which was repeated several times during Iiro’s interviews. Iiro had heard a rumour that his teacher had been violent to another student. Iiro said that his teacher often behaved in an angry and unpredictable way. The school system at the time would have required a low achieving student (like Iiro in mathematics) to change into a lower level school, civic school, which was more focused on practical subjects like handicrafts, but Iiro did not, despite the fact that he had to do extra tests in summertime and go back to middle school for an additional year. The interviewer asked about that at the end of the third meeting. The interviewer: “…last time I asked whether the challenges in woodwork had an impact on your staying in middle school, I mean, there was the angry teacher,… was there more handicraft in civic school, or did the handicraft issue affect your choice? Iiro: “Can’t say, just couldn’t make the decision… “ The Interviewer: “Well, so that I don’t overly interpret it, the handicraft… “ Iiro: “Well, it can have been… I don’t identify it consciously but… it can have been that I felt it more safe to hang along in middle school, …the general atmosphere was different, …even though I had to do the same grade again.” IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 10(1) 63 Iiro described his memories about woodwork lessons as nightmares, and, although this had not been fully conscious, he had chosen a school path which was not the best choice for him, but the one where he could avoid what he was scared of. Loaded with Inner Burdens Kaisa was the only participant in this study who did not describe need thwarting or frustration in the school environment. Instead, she told about need thwarting related with traumatic experiences in her relationship with her father, who was physically violent towards her. The relationship had been a conflicted one, because Kaisa also described the discipline maintained by her father as a good thing and her being a ‘daddy’s girl’, her father being her sport couch. Kaisa told that the violent abuse at home, as well as a need to keep this abuse secret, caused her an inner burden that alienated her from the peers. “I could not talk about it to anyone. They all had normal homes… they never could have understood, if I told them that he spanked us like every day… maybe that is why I had the feeling that I couldn’t let anyone behind my back, to dominate me…I had to be the one to dominate, myself, I pulled the strings of others and made them do (forbidden) things,.. and laughed at them… when I was at high school, I got new friends… there was no need to push them into shoplifting or smoking, they were already doing it. “ Not wanting to have anyone “behind her back” at school indicates that Kaisa experienced threat of psychological safety, caused by incidents that had happened elsewhere, in the home environment. Kaisa described also another, practical element, disconnecting her from the peers during elementary school years. She was talented at sport and was practicing hard. “When others planned what to do after school, I always said, no, not me, I need to go training. But when I was thirteen… I started to feel it’s not mine, it’s my father’s idea. It was a huge shouting, but I stopped my training just like that.” After compulsory school Kaisa tried several times to start high school. Each attempt lasted only a few weeks. Instead, Kaisa went out having fun in bars, using alcohol and drugs, being absent from school the next day several times a week. Kaisa’s narrative account illustrates how her experiences at home also affected her school life. As an inner burden, domestic violence, and keeping it hidden from others, affected the dynamics in her peer relationships. Conflict Pikkarainen et al.,- Finnish early school leavers 64 about the sport career illustrates lack of support for her autonomy. This may have affected the ways in which Kaisa selected her friends and free time activities during adolescence in a maladaptive way. Summary of the Findings As a summary of the pathways based on the narrative accounts, we made a graphic overview of the groups A, B and C, and the paths leading to early school leaving (Figure 1). Two main factors distinguish the paths: the environment where the need thwarting elements were mainly located and the possibility to transfer into another, more need supportive environment. Those having access to a more potential environment for need satisfaction took the chance. It’s notable, that the choices might not have led to a life generally considered as decent, but were reasonable given the situation, from the point of view of the participants. IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 10(1) 65 Figure1. A graphic overview of the paths identified in the narrative accounts. Path A Withdrawing Path B Struggling Path C Carrying burdens Need thwarting in school environment Need thwarting home environment Need thwarting in school and home environment A B C Experiences of need frustration in school environment Experiences of need frustration in home environment Experiences of need frustration in school and home environment Access to a need supportive environment out of school Carring inner burdens No access to a need supportive environment Experience of need satisfaction out of school Malfunctioning & ill-being in home and school environment Choosing life without schooling Need substitutes out of school Leaving school A B C A B C A B C A B C Pikkarainen et al.,- Finnish early school leavers 66 Path A, “withdrawing”, starts from need thwarting at school, followed by experienced need frustration. As need frustration took place mostly in the school environment, the participants had access to more need satisfying environments elsewhere. Experiences of need satisfaction outside the school environment had an impact on their choice not to return to school. Path B, “struggling”, starts from need thwarting circumstances both at school and at home, consequently affecting participants’ need frustration in both environments. Weather there was an opportunity to choose another environment or not, determined how the path continued: to a life considered as good without schooling, or a life with maladaptive need substitutes, which prevented studying. Path C, “carrying burdens”, starts from need thwarting circumstances at home, the experience shaping further experiences and actions in other environments as well, affecting behaviour at school accordingly. Conclusions and Discussion We examined which life events, circumstances and experiences the participants linked with their early school leaving and what kind of pathways out of school could be identified in their narrative accounts. As we assumed, on the basis of SDT theory, frustration of the needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence shaped the pathways out of school. Adding to former literature, the findings indicate firstly, that accumulation of need frustration started early, from the first school years, and continued throughout childhood and adolescence. Secondly, accumulating did not occur only in relation to time but also included different kinds of psychological elements. Thirdly, threat of safety was a shared experience in the narrative accounts, as a starting point for accumulating need frustration. The circumstances indicating a fragile experience of safety in the narrative accounts were threat of physical safety, weakness of parental care, poverty, and a lack of trust of adult support. Need thwarting and experienced frustration were factors that pushed the participants out of school, while simultaneously, need support and satisfaction was available for them in other environments and were thus pulling them in the same direction. In their interviews, participants recounted their difficulties in learning and the lack of support given, which led to increased experiences of frustration, related to competence. This is in line with Ryan and Deci (2009, 118), who name learning problems as elements of need thwarting. Relatedness, as a IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 10(1) 67 need, was violated by experiences of not belonging to peer group, rejection and outspoken prejudices. Frustration of autonomy was described as school being “so compulsory”, as perceptions related to thwarted autonomy are described in SDT studies (Niemiec & Ryan 2009; Ryan & Deci 2000, 2009). In addition to this, the development of skills that are needed for selfdetermined actions and adulthood responsibilities was hindered by a lack of support for learning, thwarting autonomy at a more general level. The fact that the participants of Roma background faced prejudices (Authors, 2019), to which Berlin (2015) has referred to as cultural racism, was an element of need thwarting, in this case one of many, as other need frustrating elements accumulated. Related to this, the Roma participants shared their experiences of rejection and bullying, as well as placements in special classes, which they felt were unnecessary, these indicating frustration related to both need for autonomy and relatedness. This is in line with the finding of Honkasilta (2019), that being labelled as being in need of special support can cause otherness. The fact that special education rates have been higher among the Roma than among the population as a whole (Rajala et al., 2011), indicates, that experiences of mismatches in special education placements can be more common among the Roma than the general population. The findings of the present study show that experienced threat of safety as a life condition can have an impact on participants’/pupils’ choices and actions, increasing avoidance of the school environment which they had experienced as threatening. As Vallerand and Ratelle (2002) point out, need perceptions can be situational, but also of a more general nature, hence affecting further experiences in an accumulating way. Furthermore, Chen et al (2015) proposed that threat of financial and environmental safety increase urge for need satisfaction. Adding to former SDT literature, the results of the present study suggest that need frustration, especially fragile psychological safety, as an overall life condition, might cause increasing sensibility for need confronting elements later in life. Our findings resonate with the proposition of a third state of need states between frustration and satisfaction, namely dissatisfaction by Cheon et al (2019), which was linked with teachers’ and learning activities’ indifference to students’ need for autonomy. In the narrative accounts, from the participants’ point of view, indifference emerged in powerless or non-existent support by school adults or parents of the participants, consequently Pikkarainen et al.,- Finnish early school leavers 68 diminishing the participants’ interest to school. It was also noted that school did not play a major role in participants’ life, as the focus of the participants’ interest was in coping and finding more need satisfactory environments. Thus, interpreting the storied experience of need frustration in the light of SDT framework facilitated new insights for the ongoing conceptualizing. Study Limitations and Future Research In this study, the participants’ positive experiences, which in the narrative accounts mostly appeared out of school, were not examined. In the limits of this article, we could not include the narrative accounts of the participants or a thorough interpretation of the narrative accounts related to each psychological need named in SDT, even though it would be fruitful. For future studies in the framework of SDT, we suggest examining the borderlines of the proposed concepts of indifference and dissatisfaction, including the narrative understanding of experience as an accumulating phenomenon, as well as further developing the concept of generality levels of need perceptions, brought forth by Vallerand and Ratelle (2002). Combining different methodological approaches would enhance developing research practices, better to capture the variety of ways people experience and perceive phenomena around motivation. Furthermore, the findings invite researchers to explore, how accumulating need frustration and the threat of safety affect people’s perceptions of psychological needs, as well as psychological development later in life. Practical Implications An atmosphere of trust and safety is important for students’ school engagement. Based on our findings, teachers’ ability to pay attention and respond to students’ need frustration would be particularly urgent when students are at risk for fragile safety and accumulating frustration because of their stigmatized background. For policymakers, the results emphasize the importance of generating ways to provide support for families, as well as flexible ways to transfer from school to the labour market. 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