Should We Be Looking at the Forest or the Trees? Overall Psychological Need Satisfaction and Individual Needs as Predictors of Physical Activity

Abstract

The objectives of this study were twofold: (a) examine if measures designed to assess satisfaction of competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs in the physical activity domain can represent both general and specific needs satisfaction, and (b) assess if the specific needs are associated with concurrent moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) participation (Time 1) and MVPA participation 4 months later (Time 2), beyond general psychological needs satisfaction (PNS). Data from 544 adolescents (Mage=14.12 years, SD=.64) were analyzed. A bifactor model specifying a general PNS and three specific needs factors provided a good fit to the data. Extending the model to predict Time 1 and Time 2 MVPA participation also provided a good fit to the data. General PNS and specific needs had unique and empirically distinguishable associations with MVPA participation. The bifactor operationalization of PNS has implications for future research. Specifically, it provides a framework to delineate common and distinctive antecedents and outcomes of general PNS and specific needs.

Teachers’ Interpersonal Style in Physical Education: Exploring Patterns of Students’ Self-Determined Motivation and Enjoyment of Physical Activity in a Longitudinal Study

“…Satisfaction of basic psychological needs and self-determined motivation are associated with enjoyment and effort in performing activities and other positives outcomes (Deci and Ryan, 2017). For instance, Brunet et al (2016) observed in adolescents that autonomy, competence and relatedness predicted moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity 4 months later. Similarly, Richards et al (2017) observed that self-determined motivation predicted physical activity.…”

Students’ Need Satisfaction Profiles: Similarity and Change over the Course of a University Semester

“…This new examination has revealed ratings of need satisfaction to simultaneously reflect respondents’ global levels of need satisfaction across all three needs as well as the more specific satisfaction of their needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy left unexplained by this global level. This conclusion appears to hold in the educational (Garn, Morin, & Lonsdale, ; Gillet et al, ), general life (Tóth‐Király, Morin, Bőthe, Orosz, & Rigó, ), sport (Brunet, Gunnell, Teixeira, Sabiston, & Bélanger, ), and work (Bidee, Vantilborgh, Pepermans, Griep, & Hofmans, ; Sánchez‐Oliva et al, ) domains. In practical terms, these studies show that it is possible to simultaneously obtain a direct estimate of participants’ global need satisfaction levels encompassing all three needs, together with a non‐redundant estimate of the unique satisfaction of each specific need over and above that global level (i.e., expressed as deviations from that global level, and thus providing a direct estimate of imbalance in the extent to which each need is satisfied relative to the other needs for a specific individual).…”

Satisfaction, Enjoyment and Boredom with Physical Education as Mediator between Autonomy Support and Academic Performance in Physical Education

“…In this regard, an individual fulfilling their basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relationship) will see their satisfaction with and commitment to ongoing activities increase [7], for example, their levels of physical activity during leisure time [18], which in turn translate into an improvement in their academic performance [19,20]. It is worth underscoring how important it is that students feel satisfied with PE class so that their levels of physical activity during their leisure time increase [21].…”