Abstract
Self-determination theory proposes that human beings have universal basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which when satisfied lead to well-being. The current meta-analysis synthesized the correlations between the need for autonomy and subjective well-being. More specifically, because some researchers have questioned the role of autonomy in well-being in non-Western cultures, our meta-analysis focused on the results reported from studies conducted in the United States (US, a typical individualist culture) and East Asian countries (typical collectivist cultures). Random-effects analyses using 36 independent samples (22 from the US and 14 from East Asian samples including China and Japan) totaling 12,906 participants showed a moderate correlation (r = .46, p < .001) between autonomy and subjective well-being. The difference between correlations for studies conducted in the East and West was not significant (Δr = .05, p > .05). Overall, this study lends support to self-determination theory’s proposition that autonomy is a universal psychological need and provides suggestions for cultural practices and policies.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
From the perspective of more recent conceptualizations (Costa et al. 2015a), what Sheldon and Hilpert measured as the opposite to need satisfaction can be argued to be a mixture of need dissatisfaction and need frustration.
It should be noted that many studies measured BPN in a specific domain (e.g., in relationships: La Guardia et al. 2000; education: Jang et al. 2009; physical exercise: Sylvester et al. 2012; work: Baard et al. 2004; and role-related domain: Talley et al. 2012). These studies are not included in the current meta-analysis because we focused on the effect of autonomy on well-being in the general life context. However, these studies also provide valuable support for the conceptualization and importance of autonomy.
According to the United Nations Statistics Division (n.d.), countries or regions in East Asia include China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Mongolia. In our review, we found relevant studies in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan only.
Although this study did not strictly meet the location requirement, the inclusion of this study was believed to contribute to more than detract from a precise estimation, considering the relative few number of Eastern samples and the relatively short time the Chinese sample had lived in Belgium. Indeed, this sample was treated as culturally Chinese in the original study. We also conducted the analyses without this study, and the results were essentially the same: the differences in correlations were less than .01, both for the Eastern population and on the whole; the cultural moderation test results were still non-significant.
Participants were categorized into five age groups: children under 13 years, adolescents aged 13–17, college-aged (18–22), young and middle-aged adults (23–60), and seniors (over 60). The college-aged group represented a separate group because it was the most sampled age range in our review; the other age groups were divided according to developmental stages (Erikson and Erikson 1998; “Proposed working definition…”, n.d.).
Some studies (e.g., Simsek and Demir 2013) reported only relative PA, which explains why the effect size for all affect was higher than that of PA and NA.
References
Note: An asterisk indicate the studies included in our meta-analysis
Adie, J. W., Duda, J. L., & Ntoumanis, N. (2012). Perceived coach-autonomy support, basic need satisfaction and the well-and ill-being of elite youth soccer players: A longitudinal investigation. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 13(1), 51–59.
*Anthoney, S. F. (2011). Students in context: Effects of psychological needs and environmental press on academic and life satisfaction (Doctoral dissertation). Iowa State University Digital Depository (10198). http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/10198.
Aristotle. (2001). Nicomachean ethics. Virginia Tech.
Assor, A. (2017) The striving to develop an authentic inner-compass as a key component of adolescents’ need for autonomy: Parental antecedents and effects on identity, well-being, and resilience. In B. Soenens, M. Vansteenkiste, & S. Van Petegem (Eds.), The meaning and the role of autonomy in adolescent development: Toward conceptual clarity. Psychology Press.
Baard, P. P., Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2004). Intrinsic need satisfaction: A motivational basis of performance and weil-being in two work settings1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34(10), 2045–2068.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497.
Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J., & Rothstein, H. R. (2009). Introduction to meta-analysis. Chichester: Wiley.
*Breitborde, N. J., Kleinlein, P., & Srihari, V. H. (2012). Self-determination and first-episode psychosis: Associations with symptomatology, social and vocational functioning, and quality of life. Schizophrenia Research, 137(1), 132–136.
*Breitborde, N. J., Woolverton, C., Frost, R. B., & Kiewel, N. A. (2015). Clinical correlates of distorted auditory perception in first-episode psychosis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 9(3), 248–251.
*Chang, J. H., Huang, C. L., & Lin, Y. C. (2015a). Mindfulness, basic psychological needs fulfillment, and well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(5), 1149–1162.
*Chang, E. C., Lin, J., Fowler, E. E., Elizabeth, A. Y., Yu, T., Jilani, Z., et al. (2015b). Sexual assault and depressive symptoms in college students: Do psychological needs account for the relationship? Social Work, 60, 211–218.
Chen, B., Van Assche, J., Vansteenkiste, M., Soenens, M., & Beyers, M. (2015a). Does Psychological Need Satisfaction Matter When Environmental or Financial Safety are at Risk? Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(3), 745–766.
Chen, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Beyers, W., Boone, L., Deci, E. L., Van der Kaap-Deeder, J., et al. (2015b). Basic psychological need satisfaction, need frustration, and need strength across four cultures. Motivation and Emotion, 39(2), 216–236.
*Chen, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Beyers, W., Soenens, B., & Van Petegem, S. (2013). Autonomy in family decision making for Chinese adolescents: Disentangling the dual meaning of autonomy. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44, 1184–1209.
Chen, Y., Yao, M., & Yan, W. (2014). Materialism and well-being among Chinese college students: The mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction. Journal of Health Psychology, 19(10), 1232–1240.
Chirkov, V., Ryan, R. M., Kim, Y., & Kaplan, U. (2003). Differentiating autonomy from individualism and independence: A self-determination theory perspective on internalization of cultural orientations and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(1), 97.
Chirkov, V. I., Ryan, R. M., & Willness, C. (2005). Cultural context and psychological needs in Canada and Brazil testing a self-determination approach to the internalization of cultural practices, identity, and well-being. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36(4), 423–443.
*Church, A. T., Katigbak, M. S., Locke, K. D., Zhang, H., Shen, J., de Jesús Vargas-Flores, J., et al. (2013). Need satisfaction and well-being testing self-determination theory in eight cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(4), 507–534.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Lawrence Earlbaum Associates (pp. 20–26). NJ: Hillsdale.
Costa, S., Ntoumanis, N., & Bartholomew, K. J. (2015a). Predicting the brighter and darker sides of interpersonal relationships: Does psychological need thwarting matter? Motivation and Emotion, 39(1), 11–24.
Costa, S., Soenens, B., Gugliandolo, M. C., Cuzzocrea, F., & Larcan, R. (2015b). The mediating role of experiences of need satisfaction in associations between parental psychological control and internalizing problems: A study among Italian college students. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24(4), 1106–1116.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The” what” and” why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Motivation, personality, and development within embedded social contexts: an overview of self-determination theory. In R. M. Ryan (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of human motivation (pp. 85–107). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Deci, E. L., Ryan, R. M., Gagné, M., Leone, D. R., Usunov, J., & Kornazheva, B. P. (2001). Need satisfaction, motivation, and well-being in the work organizations of a former eastern bloc country: A cross-cultural study of self-determination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(8), 930–942.
Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34.
Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.
Downie, M., Koestner, R., & Chua, S. N. (2007). Political support for self-determination, wealth, and national subjective well-being. Motivation and Emotion, 31(3), 174–181.
*Dupuis, D. R., & Newby-Clark, I. R. (2016). Economic threat undermines the satisfaction of psychological needs for competence and autonomy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(2), 94–104.
Erikson, E. H., & Erikson, J. M. (1998). The life cycle completed (extended version). New York: WW Norton & Company.
Gagné, M. (2003). The role of autonomy support and autonomy orientation in prosocial behavior engagement. Motivation and Emotion, 27(3), 199–223.
Gunnell, K. E., Crocker, P. R., Wilson, P. M., Mack, D. E., & Zumbo, B. D. (2013). Psychological need satisfaction and thwarting: A test of basic psychological needs theory in physical activity contexts. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14(5), 599–607.
Hahn, J., & Oishi, S. (2006). Psychological needs and emotional well-being in older and younger Koreans and Americans. Personality and Individual Differences, 40(4), 689–698.
Hedges, L., & Olkin, I. (1985). Statistical Methods for Meta-analysis. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Hedges, L. V., & Pigott, T. D. (2004). The power of statistical tests for moderators in meta-analysis. Psychological Methods, 9(4), 426.
Higgins, J., & Thompson, S. G. (2002). Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. Statistics in Medicine, 21(11), 1539–1558.
Higgins, J. P., Thompson, S. G., Deeks, J. J., & Altman, D. G. (2003). Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses. BMJ, 327(7414), 557–560.
Hollifield, C. R., & Conger, K. J. (2015). The role of siblings and psychological needs in predicting life satisfaction during emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 3(3), 143–153.
Ilardi, B. C., Leone, D., Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1993). Employee and supervisor ratings of motivation: main effects and discrepancies associated with job satisfaction and adjustment in a factory setting1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23(21), 1789–1805.
Ipeirotis, P. (2015). Demographics of Mechanical Turk: Now Live! (April 2015 edition). Retrieved from http://www.behind-the-enemy-lines.com/2015/04/demographics-of-mechanical-turk-now.html.
Iyengar, S. S., & DeVoe, S. E. (2003, January). Rethinking the value of choice: Considering cultural mediators of intrinsic motivation. In Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 49, pp. 129–174).
Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (1999). Rethinking the value of choice: A cultural perspective on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 349.
Jang, H., Reeve, J., Ryan, R. M., & Kim, A. (2009). Can self-determination theory explain what underlies the productive, satisfying learning experiences of collectivistically oriented Korean students? Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(3), 644.
*Johnston, M. M., & Finney, S. J. (2010). Measuring basic needs satisfaction: Evaluating previous research and conducting new psychometric evaluations of the basic needs satisfaction in general scale. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 35(4), 280–296.
Joussemet, M., Landry, R., & Koestner, R. (2008). A self-determination theory perspective on parenting. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 49(3), 194.
Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (1999). Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
*Kashdan, T. B., Mishra, A., Breen, W. E., & Froh, J. J. (2009). Gender differences in gratitude: Examining appraisals, narratives, the willingness to express emotions, and changes in psychological needs. Journal of Personality, 77(3), 691–730.
La Guardia, J. G., Ryan, R. M., Couchman, C. E., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Within-person variation in security of attachment: a self-determination theory perspective on attachment, need fulfillment, and well-being. Journal of personality and social psychology, 79(3), 367.
*Li, Q. (2010a). Gaozhongsheng jiben xinli xuyao de manzu yu xingfugan de guanxi [The relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and subjective well-being among high school students]. Master thesis, Hebei University.
Li, H. (2010b). Wen Jiabao: Rang renmin shenghuo de gengjia xingfu gengyou zunyan [Wen Jiabao: give the people a life happier and with more dignity]. China Daily. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/2010-02/13/content_9469159.htm.
Liu, J., Zhong, B., & Si, G. (2013). The application of self-determination theory among Chinese populations. Advances in Psychological Science, 21, 1803–1813.
Longo, Y., Gunz, A., Curtis, G. J., & Farsides, T. (2014). Measuring need satisfaction and frustration in educational and work contexts: The need satisfaction and frustration scale (NSFS). Journal of Happiness Studies, 17, 295–317.
*Martela, F., & Ryan, R. M. (2015). The benefits of benevolence: Basic psychological needs, beneficence, and the enhancement of well-being. Journal of Personality, 84, 750–764.
*Molix, L. A., & Nichols, C. P. (2013). Satisfaction of basic psychological needs as a mediator of the relationship between community esteem and wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(1), 20–34.
Niemiec, C. P., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom Applying self-determination theory to educational practice. Theory and Research in Education, 7(2), 133–144.
*Nishimura, T., & Suzuki, T. (2016). Basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration in Japan: Controlling for the big five personality traits. Japanese Psychological Research, 58(4), 320–331.
Oishi, S. (2000). Goals as cornerstones of subjective well-being: Linking individuals and cultures. Culture and Subjective Well-being, 36(4), 463–470.
Orwin, R. G. (1983). A fail-safe n for effect size in meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Statistics, 8, 157–159.
Proposed working definition of an older person in Africa for the MDS Project. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/ageingdefnolder/en/.
*Qiu, H., Jiang, J., & Wang, R. (2012). On the relationship between college students’ goal content, psychological needs and subjective well-being. Chinese Journal of Special Education, 12, 019.
Reeve, J., & Jang, H. (2006). What teachers say and do to support students’ autonomy during a learning activity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(1), 209.
Robak, R. W., & Nagda, P. R. (2011). Psychological needs: A study of what makes life satisfying. North American Journal of Psychology, 13(1), 75–86.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York: Guilford Publishing.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069.
Schüler, J., Brandstätter, V., & Sheldon, K. M. (2013). Do implicit motives and basic psychological needs interact to predict well-being and flow? Testing a universal hypothesis and a matching hypothesis. Motivation and Emotion, 37(3), 480–495.
Seligman, M. E., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction (Vol. 55, No. 1, p. 5). American Psychological Association.
Sheldon, K. M. (2013). Individual daimon, universal needs, and subjective well-being: Happiness as the natural consequence of a life well lived. In A. Waterman (Ed.), The best within us: Positive psychology perspectives on eudaimonia (pp. 119–137). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/14092-007.
Sheldon, K. M. (2016). Putting eudaimonia in its place. In Handbook of eudaimonic well-being (pp. 531–541). Springer.
Sheldon, K. M., Elliot, A. J., Kim, Y., & Kasser, T. (2001). What is satisfying about satisfying events? Testing 10 candidate psychological needs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(2), 325.
Sheldon, K. M., & Gunz, A. (2009). Psychological needs as basic motives, not just experiential requirements. Journal of Personality, 77(5), 1467–1492.
Sheldon, K. M., & Hilpert, J. C. (2012). The balanced measure of psychological needs (BMPN) scale: An alternative domain general measure of need satisfaction. Motivation and Emotion, 36(4), 439–451.
*Sheldon, K. M., & Niemiec, C. P. (2006). It’s not just the amount that counts: Balanced need satisfaction also affects well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(2), 331.
*Sheldon, K. M., & Schüler, J. (2011). Wanting, having, and needing: Integrating motive disposition theory and self-determination theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(5), 1106.
*Şimşek, Ö. F., & Demir, M. (2013). Parental support for basic psychological needs and happiness: The importance of sense of uniqueness. Social Indicators Research, 112(3), 661–678.
*Siu, N. Y. M., Kwan, H. Y., Zhang, T. J. F., & Ho, C. K. Y. (2016). Arts consumption, customer satisfaction and personal well-being: A study of performing arts in Hong Kong. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 28(2), 77–91.
Smetana, J. G., Campione-Barr, N., & Daddis, C. (2004). Longitudinal development of family decision making: Defining healthy behavioral autonomy for middle-class African American adolescents. Child Development, 75(5), 1418–1434.
Sylvester, B. D., Mack, D. E., Busseri, M. A., Wilson, P. M., & Beauchamp, M. R. (2012). Health-enhancing physical activity, psychological needs satisfaction, and well-being: Is it how often, how long, or how much effort that matters? Mental Health and Physical Activity, 5(2), 141–147.
Talley, A. E., Kocum, L., Schlegel, R. J., Molix, L., & Bettencourt, B. A. (2012). Social roles, basic need satisfaction, and psychological health the central role of competence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(2), 155–173.
Tay, L., & Diener, E. (2011). Needs and subjective well-being around the world. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 354.
*Uysal, A., Lee Lin, H., & Raymond Knee, C. (2010). The role of need satisfaction in self-concealment and well-being. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 36(2), 187–199.
Van den Broeck, A., Ferris, D. L., Chang, C. H., & Rosen, C. C. (2016). A review of self-determination theory’s basic psychological needs at work. Journal of Management, 42, 1195–1229.
Van Petegem, S., Vansteenkiste, M., & Beyers, W. (2013). The jingle–jangle fallacy in adolescent autonomy in the family: In search of an underlying structure. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(7), 994–1014.
*Vansteenkiste, M., Lens, W., Soenens, B., & Luyckx, K. (2006). Autonomy and relatedness among Chinese sojourners and applicants: Conflictual or independent predictors of well-being and adjustment? Motivation and Emotion, 30(4), 273–282.
Vansteenkiste, M., Neyrinck, B., Niemiec, C. P., Soenens, B., Witte, H., & Broeck, A. (2007). On the relations among work value orientations, psychological need satisfaction and job outcomes: A self-determination theory approach. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80(2), 251–277.
Vansteenkiste, M., Niemiec, C. P., & Soenens, B. (2010). The development of the five mini-theories of self-determination theory: An historical overview, emerging trends, and future directions. Advances in Motivation and Achievement, 16, 105–166.
Vansteenkiste, M., & Ryan, R. M. (2013). On psychological growth and vulnerability: Basic psychological need satisfaction and need frustration as a unifying principle. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 23(3), 263.
*Wang, Y. (2008). Daxuesheng jiben xinli xuyao, mubiao neirong he zhuguan xingfugan de guanxi [The relationship between basic psychological needs, goal content and subjective well-being among college students]. Doctoral dissertation, South China Normal University.
*Wang, L., Tao, T., Fan, C., & Gao, W. (2015). Does psychological need satisfaction perceived online enhance well-being? PsyCh Journal, 4(3), 146–154.
Waterman, A. S. (2013). Introduction: Considering the nature of a life well-lived—Intersections of positive psychology and eudaimonist philosophy. In A. S. Waterman (Ed.), The best within us: Positive psychology perspectives on eudaimonia. Washington: American Psychological Association.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063.
*Wei, M., Shaffer, P. A., Young, S. K., & Zakalik, R. A. (2005). Adult attachment, shame, depression, and loneliness: The mediation role of basic psychological needs satisfaction. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(4), 591.
*Wong, T. Y., Yuen, K. S., & Li, W. O. (2014). A basic need theory approach to problematic Internet use and the mediating effect of psychological distress. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1562.
United Nations Statistics Division. (n.d.). Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/.
*Yang, J., Chen, F., & Ji, L. (2013). Relationships among perceived autonomy support, physical self-esteem and life satisfaction of high school students in PE class. Journal of Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, 6, 005.
Yishi xingtai lingyu douzheng yao ganyu liangjian [We should dare to confront our enemies in the arena of ideological struggles]. (2013). Beijing Ribao. Retrieved from http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2013-09-02/025928105797.shtml.
Yu, S., Chen, B., Levesque-Bristol, C., & Vansteenkiste, M. (2016). Chinese education examined via the lens of self-determination. Educational Psychology Review. doi:10.1007/s10648-016-9395-x.
Acknowledgements
We thank Jing Lv for her help with the study, including double-coding. We thank Hyun Jin Cho and Takuma Nishimura for helping with literature search. We thank Dr Louis Tay for his comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yu, S., Levesque-Bristol, C. & Maeda, Y. General Need for Autonomy and Subjective Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis of Studies in the US and East Asia. J Happiness Stud 19, 1863–1882 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9898-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-017-9898-2