Basic psychological need satisfaction and affect within the leisure sphere

ABSTRACT

Research on leisure and well-being in non-Western contexts is rare. Our study addresses this issue by investigating whether satisfaction of three basic psychological needs – autonomy, competence and/or relatedness – influences four types of affective well-being – high-arousal positive (HAP) affect, low-arousal positive (LAP) affect, high-arousal negative (HAN) affect and/or low-arousal negative (LAN) affect – within the leisure sphere. Telephone survey data were collected from 583 Hong Kong Chinese employees. Structural equation modelling indicated that (1) autonomy, competence and relatedness need satisfaction were all significantly and positively correlated with HAP affect; (2) autonomy need satisfaction alone was significantly and positively related with LAP affect; and (3) autonomy need satisfaction alone was significantly and negatively associated with both LAN and HAN affects. Taken together, these results suggest that fulfilment of basic psychological needs, especially the need for autonomy, contributes to people’s overall affective well-being, within the leisure sphere. We discuss our findings in terms of two frameworks: basic psychological needs theory and the DRAMMA leisure model. We also explicate the practical implications of our study and provide future research recommendations.

KEYWORDS:

• Affect
• autonomy
• Chinese
• competence
• culture
• relatedness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [Grant SRG 410-2010-0168].

Notes on contributors

Jingjing Gui

Jingjing Gui is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta, Canada. Her research focuses on leisure meanings and daily emotional experiences among Chinese people from cross-cultural and cultural psychological perspectives.

Shintaro Kono

Shintaro Kono is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health and Recreation at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, USA. His main research interest has been in how leisure experiences can enhance participants' well-being. He is particularly interested in eudaimonic well-being, or a good life. He has also studied the topic from a non-Western and cross-cultural perspective, as exemplified in his series of studies about a Japanese well-being concept called ikigai. Visit https://www.shintarokono.com/ for more information on Shintaro's personal research.

Gordon J. Walker

Gordon J. Walker is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research examines motivations for, constraints to, experiences during, and outcomes of, leisure. He has (co-)authored over 100 journal articles and book chapters on leisure behaviour.