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

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Jennifer Brunet University of Ottawa
Institut de Recherche de l’Hôpital Montfort
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

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Katie E. Gunnell University of Ottawa
The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute

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Pedro Teixeira University of Lisbon

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Catherine M. Sabiston University of Toronto

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Mathieu Bélanger Université de Sherbrooke
Centre de Formation Médicale du Nouveau-Brunswick
Vitalité Health Network

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2016-0256
In Print:
Volume 38: Issue 4
Page Range:
317–330
Restricted access

The objectives of this study were to examine whether (a) measures designed to assess satisfaction of competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs in physical activity contexts can represent both general and specific needs satisfaction and (b) 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 need satisfaction (PNS). Data from 544 adolescents (Mage = 14.1 years, SD = 0.6) were analyzed. A bifactor model specifying four factors (i.e., one general PNS and three specific needs) 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 provides a framework to delineate common and distinctive antecedents and outcomes of general PNS and specific needs.

Jennifer Brunet is with the School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Institut de Recherche de l’Hôpital Montfort (IRHM), Montfort Hospital, Ontario, Canada; and the Cancer Therapeutic Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), Ontario, Canada. Katie E. Gunnell is with the School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ontario, Canada. Pedro Teixeira is with Centro Interdisciplinar de Estudo da Performance Human (CIPER), Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. Catherine M. Sabiston is with the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mathieu Bélanger is with the Department of Family Medicine, Université de Sherbrooke, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada; Centre de Formation Médicale du Nouveau-Brunswick, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada; and Vitalité Health Network, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Address author correspondence to Jennifer Brunet at jennifer.brunet@uottawa.ca.
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