Psychological need satisfaction in different life contexts: Development of satisfaction patterns and their relation to well-being

In everyday life, people are engaged in many different contexts, which differ in regard to need satisfaction and well-being. According to Deci & Ryan’s basic psychological needs theory (BPNT; Deci & Ryan, 2000), these intercontextual differences refer to three basic needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Against this backdrop, the study investigates three typical and important contexts of adults’ everyday life: Sports, Work, and Family. Specifically, we aim to identify typical need satisfaction patterns (profiles) taking into account different needs in different contexts. Moreover, differences in overall well-being between these profiles are investigated. A total of 106 men and 117 women (aged 20-63) responded to a three-dimensional need satisfaction scale (CBANS) which was separately assessed in regard to all three contexts. Furthermore, a depression screener (PHQ-2), a well-being index (WHO-5), and demographic information were assessed. Different profiles were analyzed by cluster analysis taking into account nine criterion variables (satisfaction of the three needs in each context). Differences between the clusters regarding well-being were analyzed with an ANOVA. The analysis revealed four clusters. The first cluster showed high overall need satisfaction (‘The lucky ones’), the second cluster revealed low need satisfaction in the context Work (‘Work dissatisfaction’), the third cluster reflected low need satisfaction in the context Family (‘Family Dissatisfaction’), and the fourth cluster showed low need satisfaction in the context Sports (‘Sport dissatisfaction’). While the first cluster showed the highest amount of well-being, the third cluster reflected the lowest (F(3, 219)=10,58, p < .001). Results of the present study showed that need satisfaction within the contexts differently contributes to well-being. Interestingly, while dissatisfaction in the contexts Sports and Work does not negatively affect overall well-being, dissatisfaction in the context Family does. Future research should clarify the role of this specific context and focus on strategies to compensate need dissatisfaction.