Psychological needs and exercise behaviour: a comparison of two psychological needs models

AbstractAbstractObjective Psychological need satisfaction, from a self-determination theory (SDT) perspective, has been applied extensively to understand predictors of exercise behaviour. Dweck proposed a psychological needs framework that includes basic needs (optimal predictability, competence, acceptance), compound needs derived from combinations of basic needs (self-esteem/status, trust, control), and a superordinate compound need for self-coherence that includes identity and meaning. The purpose was to examine whether psychological needs operationalized within Dweck's model account for variance in exercise behaviour in ways that the SDT model does not.Methods and Measures A community sample of 403 adults completed measures of demographics, psychological needs, and exercise motivation at Time 1, and self-reported moderate-to-vigorous minutes of exercise at both Times 1 and 2 four weeks later.Results Two structural equation models operationalizing Dweck's needs framework and SDT (basic needs and motivation) were examined in relation to exercise behaviour. In both models, exercise identity and integrated regulation (conceptually similar) were the most salient correlates of prospectively measured exercise behaviour, and both accounted for the relationship between competence and exercise behaviour.Conclusion The results support the importance of identity in the context of exercise behaviour. Future research should investigate factors associated with adopting and maintaining an exercise identity.Keywords: Psychological needsphysical activityoptimal predictabilitymeaningexercise identity Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by a graduate scholarship awarded to the first author by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.Notes1 Dweck's (2017 Dweck, C. S. (2017). From needs to goals and representations: Foundations for a unified theory of motivation, personality, and development. Psychological Review, 124(6), 689–719. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000082[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) framework also includes three compound needs (self-esteem/status, control, and trust) that are expected to emerge from combinations of the basic needs as individuals mature psychologically. Self-esteem/status refers to positive self-evaluations and social standing and is theorized within the model to emerge from the basic needs for competence and acceptance. The need for control includes three facets—autonomy (from SDT), self-control, and agency—and is theorized to emerge from the basic needs for competence and optimal predictability. The need for trust is derived from the needs for optimal predictability (i.e., predictable caregiving) and acceptance (Dweck, 2017 Dweck, C. S. (2017). From needs to goals and representations: Foundations for a unified theory of motivation, personality, and development. Psychological Review, 124(6), 689–719. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000082[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Analysis of these compound needs was beyond the purview of the current investigation, which was to examine the explanatory utility of the basic need framework and the mediating roles of identity and meaning in relation to exercise behaviour.2 The data in this study are derived from a larger program of research examining Dweck's (2017 Dweck, C. S. (2017). From needs to goals and representations: Foundations for a unified theory of motivation, personality, and development. Psychological Review, 124(6), 689–719. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000082[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) psychological needs model in the context of exercise behaviour. Data collected from the same sample of participants were analyzed to garner validity evidence for the measurement of optimal predictability in exercise (prediction of affect and instrumental utility) and assess Dweck's (2017 Dweck, C. S. (2017). From needs to goals and representations: Foundations for a unified theory of motivation, personality, and development. Psychological Review, 124(6), 689–719. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000082[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) psychological needs model in relation to exercise-related well-being, which was reported in Wierts et al. (2021 Wierts, C. M., Zumbo, B. D., Rhodes, R. E., Faulkner, G., & Beauchamp, M. R. (2021). An examination of Dweck's psychological needs model in relation to exercise-related well-being. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 43(4), 323–334. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2021-0026[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This previously published study included measures of exercise-related optimal predictability (prediction of affect and instrumental utility for health), competence, relatedness, autonomy, meaning, and identity at Time 1 (reported in the current paper), and exercise-related well-being at Time 2. The current study compared Dweck's psychological needs model (basic needs and mediating roles of identity and meaning) to the SDT framework (basic needs and mediating roles of behavioural regulations/motivation) for explaining prospectively measured exercise behaviour.