The study of basic psychological needs has witnessed a strong revival, in part spurred by Basic Psychological Need Theory (BPNT), one of the six mini-theories within Self-Determination Theory. ...Empirical studies on BPNT have increased exponentially since the millennium turn, leading to refinements and extensions in theory. In this contribution we review these two decades of research in order to introduce two special issues on BPNT. We first discuss key criteria that define and identify a basic need within BPNT. We then review several need-relevant themes, highlighting advancements and trends that characterize contemporary research on BPNT. Specifically, we address potential extensions of the shortlist of basic psychological needs, the role of psychological need frustration in increasing vulnerability to maladjustment, the study of the interface between individuals’ psychological and physical needs (e.g., sleep, sex, hunger), novel insights into critical need-supportive and need-thwarting practices, and the universality (versus variability) of effects of need satisfactions and supports across demographics, psychological characteristics, and cultural contexts. We also situate each of the 19 contributions that appear in this special double-issue on BPNT within these themes, while suggesting avenues for further research on the role of basic psychological needs in motivation, adjustment, and wellness.
Social identities are known to improve well‐being, but why is this? We argue that this is because they satisfy basic psychological needs, specifically, the need to belong, the need for self‐esteem, ...the need for control and the need for meaningful existence. A longitudinal study (N = 70) revealed that gain in identity strength was associated with increased need satisfaction over 7 months. A cross‐sectional study (N = 146) revealed that social identity gain and social identity loss predicted increased and reduced need satisfaction, respectively. Finally, an experiment (N = 300) showed that, relative to a control condition, social identity gain increased need satisfaction and social identity loss decreased it. Need satisfaction mediated the relationship between social identities and depression in all studies. Sensitivity analyses suggested that social identities satisfy psychological needs in a global sense, rather than being reducible to one particular need. These findings shed new light on the mechanisms through which social identities enhance well‐being.
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a still rapidly expanding framework of basic and applied research, underpinned by a global network of scholars and practitioners. Herein, we focus on one feature of ...SDT that helps explain its continued growth-the fact that it is a truly human science that takes into consideration our attributes as persons, including our capacities for awareness and self-regulation, as well as vulnerabilities to defensiveness and control. Within SDT, these human capacities are studied using diverse methods and across all subdisciplines of psychology. In this review, we focus particularly on people's capacity for autonomy as it applies to their individual functioning, interpersonal relationships, and societal interactions. If there is a core legacy to SDT, it is one of representing a generative and philosophically coherent framework based on a convergent network of empirical evidence with relevance across domains and cultures and to our basic experiences and concerns as humans.
Humans have a potential for growth, integration, and well-being, while also being vulnerable to defensiveness, aggression, and ill-being. Self-determination theory (R. M. Ryan & E. L. Deci, 2000, ...Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development and well-being, American Psychologist, Vol. 55, pp. 68-78) argues that satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness both fosters immediate well-being and strengthens inner resources contributing to subsequent resilience, whereas need frustration evokes ill-being and increased vulnerabilities for defensiveness and psychopathology. We briefly review recent research indicating how contextual need support and the experience of need satisfaction promote well-being and different growth manifestations (e.g., intrinsic motivation, internalization), as well as a rapidly growing body of work relating need thwarting and need frustration to ill-being, pursuit of need substitutes, and various forms of maladaptive functioning. Finally, we discuss research on differences in autonomous self-regulation and mindfulness, which serve as factors of resilience.
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a theoretical framework for addressing human motivation and wellness that has been actively and increasingly researched over 4 decades. As a cumulative knowledge ...base, many of SDT's fundamental tenets have been repeatedly examined. We identified 60 meta-analyses that tested many of the propositions of SDT's six mini-theories, other theory-based hypotheses, and SDT's utility in applied domains. In this review, we examine what these meta-analyses establish, highlighting the support they lend to the validity of SDT's motivational taxonomy and its hypotheses regarding the respective effects of basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration on well-being and ill-being. Meta-analytic evidence also strongly supports the relevance of SDT for organizations, health care, parenting, and education among other domains, with identifiable gaps in the meta-analytic literature. We conclude by discussing the importance of broad theory and the use of meta-analytic knowledge as scaffolding for further theory and research, albeit with its own methodological limitations.
Public Significance Statement
This systematic review includes a comprehensive narrative synthesis of 60 meta-analyses, each of which tests various principles from self-determination theory (SDT). Such a review is of broad public significance because SDT has become one of the most widely applied approaches to human motivation and is the basis for interventions in many domains including work and organizations, health care, education, physical activity, and sport, among others.
The experiences of mothers and fathers are different in ways that could affect their well-being. Yet few studies have comprehensively examined gender differences in parents’ well-being. In the ...current research, we investigated such gender differences in a large representative sample (Study 1a; N = 13,007), in a community sample using validated well-being measures (Study 1b; N = 472), and in a large experience sampling study measuring happiness during caregiving activities and during interactions with children (Study 2; N = 4,930). Fathers reported greater happiness, subjective well-being, psychological need satisfaction, and daily uplifts than did men without children (Studies 1a and 1b). During caregiving experiences, fathers reported greater happiness, whereas mothers reported lower happiness, compared with their other activities. Fathers also reported relatively higher happiness when interacting with their children than did mothers (Study 2). Across all three studies and more than 18,000 participants, parenthood was associated with more positive well-being outcomes for fathers than for mothers.
Drawing upon the self-determination theory, we develop a two-stage multi-path mediation model in which psychological autonomy mediates the relationship between active engagement in entrepreneurship ...and well-being partially through its effect on psychological competence and relatedness. We test this model on a representative sample of 1837 working individuals (251 early-stage entrepreneurs) from Sweden. We find active engagement in entrepreneurial work tasks to be strongly associated with well-being relative to non-entrepreneurial work. Thus, we highlight the importance of individual self-organization—with autonomy at its core—which makes entrepreneurial work more beneficial in terms of basic psychological needs compared to other work alternatives.
•We examine variations in well-being and basic psychological needs between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurial employees.•We draw on a unique and representative data sample, originates from the 2011 Swedish Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.•Our analysis clearly shows that well-being is strongly and positively associated with entrepreneurial task engagements.•Our theorizing demonstrates the positive contribution of entrepreneurship to basic psychological needs and well-being.
Materialism represents the importance of possessions in one's life. While high materialism ones keep seeking happiness from external goals such as money, status, and appearance, self-determination ...theory (SDT) suggests that basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness should be satisfied in order to experience well-being. However, materialism, as a type of extrinsic motivation, may forestall the fulfillment of psychological needs, and then undermine personal well-being. Drawing on the view of SDT, we conducted a longitudinal study to test how materialism indirectly influences subjective well-being (SWB) and depression via psychological needs satisfaction. Data was collected from Chinese students in three waves (with 6 and 12months in between, respectively), and a total of 565 participants completed all of the three surveys. Using structural equation modeling, the cross-lagged model revealed that psychological needs satisfaction fully mediated the effects of materialism on SWB and depression. Specifically, materialism impairs individuals' psychological needs satisfaction, and in turn decreases SWB and increases depression.
•This research examines the influential mechanism of materialism on personal well-being.•Materialism has the negative impact on individuals' subjective well-being and depression.•Materialism influences personal well-being via psychological needs satisfaction.
Background: A cute stress symptoms (ASSs) are likely to be a common mental health problem in the acute period following the 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) outbreak. To address this risk, ...substantial social support has been provided to relieve ASSs during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the effectiveness of these support methods for relieving ASSs has not yet been assessed.
Objective: The current study sought to examine the underlying mechanisms by which social support relieves ASSs, among primary and secondary school teachers.
Method: A sample of 751 primary and secondary school teachers was selected to answer self-reported questionnaires regarding ASSs, social support, psychological needs, and the sense of control.
Results: Structural equation modelling revealed that social support had a non-significant direct relationship with ASSs, and a significant indirect relationship with reduced ASSs via the needs for autonomy and relatedness, and via the paths from three types of psychological needs to the sense of control.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that social support can play a relieving role in ASSs when the support satisfies individuals' psychological needs and improves their sense of control. To alleviate ASSs among primary and secondary school teachers, more attention should be paid to satisfying their specific psychological needs and improving their sense of control.
The main purpose of this study is to investigate how students’ perceptions of need satisfaction and need frustration at school are indirectly associated with academic achievement through academic ...engagement. A modified version of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale was used to assess these needs in a school-based context. The study sample consisted of 551 students, comprising 299 males (54.3%) and 252 females (45.7%), with an average age of 16.19 years (SD = 1.49). The results suggested autonomy satisfaction and relatedness satisfaction are positively correlated with academic engagement, autonomy frustration is negatively correlated with academic engagement, and, moreover, academic engagement is associated with increased academic achievement. The results of this study highlight the importance of developing specific training programs to promote a school environment that pays attention to students’ psychological needs.
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