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On the Importance of Balanced Need Fulfillment: A Person-Centered Perspective

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Abstract

Self-determination theory proposes that the fulfillment of the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness is important for optimal functioning. While support for this proposition have been well-documented, little attention has been paid to how these needs interact within individuals and whether having equally low, medium or high level of need fulfillment (i.e., balanced need satisfaction) has additional effects over and above the aggregated need fulfillment itself. The present study addresses these questions by examining the importance of having balanced versus imbalanced need fulfillment by adopting latent profile analysis, making it possible to distinguish quantitative and qualitative need-related differences. This research also documents the relations of these need profiles in relation to theoretically-relevant profile predictors (perceived interpersonal behaviors) and outcomes (affect and passion). A total of 1094 adults (female = 746, Mage = 26.00, SDage = 7.69) participated in this study. A four-profile solution appeared to be the most optimal: (1) balanced, all needs are highly satisfied, (2) imbalanced, only relatedness is highly satisfied, (3) balanced, all needs are average, and (4) balanced, all needs are frustrated. Interestingly, these profiles differed from one another in terms of obsessive passion, negative affect, and, to a smaller extent, positive affect, but not harmonious passion. Finally, profile membership was predicted by the perceived need nurturing global factor as well as by some of the specific factors. These results support the hypothesis that, apart from need fulfillment, need balance is also important for wellbeing and optimal functioning.

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Notes

  1. These online groups and forums included, for instance, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Hungary or Sorozatjunkie.

  2. While second-order models could also have been investigated (in which the first-order factors are associated with a second-order factor), this modeling approach has been shown to have limitations (see Morin et al. 2016 or 2018). More specifically, second-order models rest on the assumption that the association between the items and the second-order factor is indirect and, at the same time, fully mediated by the first-order factors. Also, these models assume that the ratio of global and specific variance is exactly the same for all items associated with a specific first-order factor. However, this assumption is overly stringent and rarely holds in practice (Gignac, 2016; Reise, 2012). For this reason, bifactor models were analyzed that are able to properly partition the indicators’ global and specific variance.

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Funding

The first author was supported by the ÚNKP-17-3 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities. The first third authors were also supported by the Hungarian Research Fund (NKFI FK 124225).

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Tóth-Király, I., Bőthe, B., Orosz, G. et al. On the Importance of Balanced Need Fulfillment: A Person-Centered Perspective. J Happiness Stud 21, 1923–1944 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0066-0

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