Abstract
Deci and Ryan (2008) contend that the fulfillment of the psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness are directly associated with well-being. Seminal work by Sheldon and Niemiec (2006) demonstrated that "balanced" fulfillment across the psychological needs central to Deci and Ryan's arguments predicted variance in well-being beyond the contributions of each individual psychological need. The purpose of this investigation was to test the proposition that "balanced" fulfillment as contextualized to health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) would be associated with a greater endorsement of well-being above and beyond that of the three psychological needs taken together. Employing non-probability based sampling, female undergraduate students (N = 190) completed a self-report instrument within a cross-sectional design. Basic psychological need fulfillment was associated with hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in the context of HEPA (R2adj = 0.16). Balanced psychological need fulfillment contributed, at best, negligibly (R2adj ranged from 0. 00 - 0.03) to well-being indices beyond individual contributions. Interestingly, perceptions of being volitional and self-directed consistent with perceptions of autonomy in HEPA contexts were non-significant (p > .05) with the inclusion of "balanced" fulfillment in the regression analyses. This study illustrates that the "balanced" fulfillment of psychological needs may not be a central mechanism contributing to well-being within the context of HEPA, yet further inquiry appears justified to corroborate this issue.Acknowledgments: Funding support was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada