Basic Psychological Needs Predicting Physical Activity Participation among Young Adults

Self-determination theory (SDT) highlights the importance of satisfying people's basic psychological needs (BPN) (autonomy, competence and relatedness) in order to ensure their personal growth and wellbeing. In this regard, sport and physical activity (PA) have been shown to offer significant health benefits, particularly in the case of people with intellectual disability (ID), among whom the benefits are even more noticeable owing to their low levels of PA, sedentary lifestyle, limited opportunities to exercise, and consequently lower quality of life. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the Más Que Tenis ("More Than Just Tennis") inclusive recreational sports programme on the satisfaction of BPN among athletes with ID, taking into account factors such as age, gender and type of activity. The sample for the study comprised 50 athletes (68% male) with ID (IQ: X = 54.33; sd = 13.43), aged 17-54 years. Data were collected using the Spanish version of the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (BPNES), Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), multidimensional AF5 self-concept scale, Vineland-3 Scale, and MABC-2 observation checklist. High levels of satisfaction of all three BPN, with autonomy scoring lowest of the three. Gender was found to be a significant predictor, with men scoring higher in all BNP. Participants reported positive perceptions in relation to physical self-concept and satisfaction with life. In terms of adaptive behaviour, deficits were detected in relation to communication and daily living skills, but not in relation to interpersonal skills. With respect to motor behaviour, satisfaction of BPN was found to correlate more with dynamic environments than with static ones. The findings indicate the effectiveness of the Más Que Tenis programme in satisfying the BPN of people with ID. Participants reported improved physical skills, competence, social integration and interpersonal relations, though also insufficient autonomy in relation to choosing what exercises to do. Satisfaction of BPN through the programme was found to correlate positively with athletes' satisfaction with life and adaptive development, leading to improved personal and neuropsychological wellbeing.

Cross-cultural invariance of the basic psychological needs in exercise scale and need satisfaction latent mean differences among Greek, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish samples

Regular exercise participation which is a component of promoting health and healthy aging among older adults necessitates the creation of environments that fulfill participants’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, thus, providing opportunities to promote authentic interest in the activities and meaningful social engagement. Appropriate tools to capture satisfaction of these needs may prove invaluable to gain an understanding of the effectiveness of exercise programs from participants’ perspective. The aim of the study was to examine psychometric aspects of the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (BPNES) scores based on responses of 675 older adult Greek exercise participants, men and women, aged 65 to 80 years, attending indoor group-based exercise programs. The data supported the factorial validity, internal reliability, nomological validity, and equivalent item interpretation of BPNES scores between groups differing in demographic characteristics. Older adults with exercise experience greater than three years reported higher exercise needs satisfaction for all three needs compared to those exercising less than three years. The favorable psychometric characteristics of the BPNES in this population make it a valuable tool for the assessment of the extent to which older adults’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are fulfilled in group-based exercise settings.

Background: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and menstrual-related symptoms (MRS) can have an unpleasant effect on women that negatively influence their ability to carry out regular activities including physical activity, exercise, and sport participation. Therefore, this article aims to investigate the prevalence and association of PMS and MRS toward young adult women’s physical activity participation. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that surveyed 131 young female adults aged 18-30 years old using a web-based online questionnaire made up of the sociodemographic section, and items from the Premenstrual Syndrome Questionnaire (PMS-Q), Menstrual Symptom Questionnaire (MSQ), and International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQSF). Results: Majority of the participants experienced mild degree of PMS severity (85.5%) and moderate degree of MRS frequency (66.4%). Higher severity of PMS was found, significant but weakly associated with higher physical activity participation (r = 0.184, p<0.05). However, frequency of MRS was not associated with levels of physical activity participation (r =-0.093, p>0.05). Conclusion: Our findings show association between both PMS and MRS toward the young female adults’ physical activity participation levels. Further investigation with bigger sampling and wider age groups should be conducted to ascertain the findings.

The current study examined some psychometric properties of the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (BPNES; Vlachopoulos & Michailidou, 2006 ) in a group of Chinese university students in Hong Kong. A total of 460 undergraduate students were invited to take part in this study. We examined the factorial validity, discriminant validity, nomological validity, internal reliability, and measurement invariance across sex of a Chinese translation of the BPNES. The findings demonstrated that the scale had a good factorial validity and satisfactory internal reliability. Measurement invariance analysis indicated that the factor loadings and factor variance as well as covariance of measurement structure were invariant across male and female participants. Nomological validity was supported by the results of SEM analysis. Overall, the current study provided initial evidence for the validity and reliability of a Chinese translation of BPNES, and suggested that this scale could be used to measure satisfaction of psychological needs in the exercise field of Hong Kong undergraduate students.

ABSTRACTAimsSelf-determined motivation has been found to be an important predictor of exercise behavior. Findings on gender and age differences are however mixed and previous research has called for studies to examine gender and age as potential moderating factors as they might influence how motivation quality affects exercise behavior.MethodsEmbedded in a controlled trial of a digital intervention aiming to promote exercise motivation, this study examined specific (longitudinal) pathways related to motivation quality, psychological need satisfaction and exercise behavior within the self-determination theory (SDT) process model in a sample of 318 adult employees. The participants completed web-based versions of Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale, Behavioural Regulations in Exercise Questionnaire-2, and Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire three times during a six weeks period.ResultsModeration analyses revealed significant gender and age differences in the associations of motivation quality, basic psychological needs and exercise behavior over time. Several paths in the SDT-process model, linking psychological needs and motivation quality to exercise behavior, were moderated by gender and age. The stipulated mechanisms between exercise, motivation and psychological need satisfaction in the SDT-process model revealed to be stronger for women than for men, and stronger for older adults than for younger and middle-aged adults. The effect of amotivation on exercise was also significantly moderated by age in the full sample, by positively predicting light exercise for younger adults.ConclusionsFuture recommendations are related to the examination of potential differences in opportunities of autonomy support in the social context based on factors such as gender and age, and also to further examine these factors as potential moderators instead of statistically controlling them as default.

Objectives: The aim was to determine the motivational profiles – including variables from the theory of self-determination and emotional intelligence – of active undergraduates, and to examine their relationship with physical activity. Participants: Six hundred and fifteen undergraduates participated in the study. Methods: Trait Meta-Mood Scale, Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale, Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire and Habitual Physical Activity Questionnaire were administered. Cluster analysis was used to identify the motivational profiles. Results: Two motivational profiles were found. One of the motivational profiles included the participants with high levels of satisfaction of the basic psychological needs and self-determined motivation; moderately high levels of emotional clarity and repair; and low levels of non-self-determined motivation. Further, this group showed the highest rates of physical practice than its counterpart. Conclusions: The combination of self-determination theory and emotional intelligence should be considered when examining adherence to physical activity.

Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron: describir el nivel de satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas básicas y de inteligencia emocional de estudiantes adolescentes de secundaria, y comprobar la capacidad de predicción de la primera en la segunda. Para ello se respondieron a las versiones validadas al castellano de la Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale y la Trait Meta-Mood Scale. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 464 alumnos de secundaria de 12 a 17 años. Los resultados del análisis descriptivo y de correlación indicaron que la necesidad psicológica que más sienten tener satisfecha fue la relación con los demás y que fue la dimensión reparación emocional la que obtuvo mayor puntuación. Por otro lado, mediante análisis de regresión lineal se halló que la necesidad psicológica que mayor predicción tuvo sobre las necesidades psicológicas básicas fue la relación con los demás. Los resultados obtenidos indicaron que las personas con mayor necesidad de relacionarse tenderán a desarrollar una mejor inteligencia emocional.

In view of the rise in sedentary lifestyle amongst young people, knowledge regarding their intention to partake in physical activity can be decisive when it comes to instilling physical activity habits to improve the current and future health of school students. Therefore, the object of this study was to find a predictive model of the intention to partake in leisure- time physical activity based on motivation, satisfaction and competence. The sample consisted of 347 Spanish, male, high school students and 411 female students aged between 13 and 18 years old. We used a questionnaire made up of the Sport Motivation Scale, Sport Satisfaction Instrument, and the competence factor in the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale and Intention to Partake in Leisure-Time Physical Activity, all of them adapted to school Physical Education. We carried out confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation models. The intention to partake in leisure-time physical activity was predicted by competence and the latter by satisfaction/fun. Intrinsic motivation was revealed to be the best predictor of satisfaction/fun. Intrinsic motivation should be enhanced in order to predict an intention to partake in physical activity in Physical Education students.

The issue of mental health among college students is of increasing concern during the COVID-19 outbreak. Since course characteristics of engineering college students determine the particularities of their mental health, the specific objectives of this study were: (1) to analyze the relationship between physical activity, parental psychological control, basic psychological needs, anxiety, and mental health in Chinese engineering college students during COVID-19 pandemic; and (2) to examine the mediation effect of anxiety between the relationship of basic psychological needs and mental health. A cross-sectional study was conducted among several universities in Shandong Province, China. We randomly selected 254 Chinese engineering college students from these colleges. Participants who were given questionnaires completed the Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3), Basic Needs Satisfaction in General Scale (BNSG-S), Parental psychological control Questionnaire, the Beck anxiety inventory (BAI), and the Kessler 10 (K10) scale. The mediation model was conducted to assess the mediation effect of anxiety between the relationship of basic psychological needs and mental health. Among 254 Chinese college students majoring in engineering, the results showed that their mental health was in the mid-level range. Besides, physical activity and basic psychological needs is positively correlated with mental health, respectively, while parental psychological control is not correlated with mental health. Anxiety is negatively associated with mental health. Mediation analysis revealed that anxiety played a mediation role in the relationship between basic psychological needs and mental health. In conclusion, mental health of Chinese engineering college students deserves extensive attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proper intervention on physical activity, basic psychological needs, and anxiety may be beneficial to improve their mental health. In addition, meeting basic psychological needs is beneficial to reduce anxiety and improve mental health further.

Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale—Swedish Version

BackgroundEcological models suggest that a strategy for increasing physical activity participation within a population is to reconstruct the “social climate”. This can be accomplished through 1) changing norms and beliefs, 2) providing direct support for modifying environments, and 3) implementing policies to encourage physical activity. Nevertheless, surveillance efforts have paid limited attention to empirical assessment of social climate. This study responds to this gap by assessing the social climate of physical activity in Canada.MethodsA representative sample of Canadian adults (n = 2519, male/female = 50.3%/49.7%, Mage = 49.1 ± 16.3 years) completed an online survey asking them to assess social climate dimensions including social norms of physical (in)activity, perceptions of who causes physical inactivity and who is responsible for solving physical inactivity, and support for physical activity-related policy. Descriptive statistics (frequencies) were calculated. Multinomial logistic regressions were constructed to identify whether demographic variables and physical activity participation associated with social climate dimensions.ResultsPhysical inactivity was considered a serious public health concern by 55% of the respondents; similar to unhealthy diets (58%) and tobacco use (57%). Thirty-nine percent of the respondents reported that they often see other people exercising. Twenty-eight percent of the sample believed that society disapproves of physical inactivity. The majority of respondents (63%) viewed the cause of physical inactivity as both an individual responsibility and other factors beyond an individuals’ control. Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported physical inactivity as being both a private matter and a public health matter. Strong support existed for environmental-, individual-, and economic-level policies but much less for legislative approaches. The social climate indicators were associated with respondents’ level of physical activity participation and demographic variables in expected directions.ConclusionThis study is the first known attempt to assess social climate at a national level, addressing an important gap in knowledge related to advocating for, and implementing population-level physical activity interventions. Future tracking will be needed to identify any temporal (in)stability of these constructs over time and to explore the relationship between physical activity participation and indicators of the national social climate of physical activity.

635 Understanding parent perceptions of healthy physical activity for their child with a chronic medical condition

The purpose of this study was to examine body image in individuals with amputations and to determine if a relationship exists between body image and level of participation in physical activity and sports. A secondary objective was to examine correlations between two body-image assessments. A nonrandomized survey was given to a convenience-volunteer sample of individuals of at least 18 yr of age with a lower limb amputation. Twenty-four participants were active and 32 were minimally active. Statistical significance was preset at P < 0.05, with a 95% confidence interval. An overall significant difference was found between groups on the MBSRQ and on three of the 10 MBSRQ subscales. Significant correlations were found between six MBSRQ subscales and the ABIS. A positive relationship was found between regular participation in physical activity and body image among lower limb amputees.

Background The study aimed to identify the relationship between attitudes toward digital gaming and healthy nutrition according to participation in physical activity. Material and methods The sample consisted of 332 (171 female, 161 male) students aged 10 to 14. The Digital Gaming Attitude Scale and Attitude Scale for Healthy Nutrition were used to collect data. After verifying the normal distribution of the data, Pearson correlation analysis and t-test were performed. Results The results showed a moderate inverse correlation between DGAS and ASHN scores. Moreover, a moderate inverse correlation was found between the DGAS and ASHN scores of both physically active and sedentary participants. Male participants, regardless of their physical exercise status, had significantly higher DGAS scores than female participants. No significant difference was found in the ASHN scores of those who participated in physical activity and those who did not participate in physical activity according to their gender. Conclusions The findings suggested that the increase in the attitude toward digital gaming caused a reduction in the attitude toward healthy nutrition, and participation in regular physical activity diminished the attitude toward playing digital games. Furthermore, the results indicated that male participants had higher digital gaming attitudes than female participants, irrespective of their physical activity status.