Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Dec;12(4):1115-1139.
doi: 10.1111/aphw.12228. Epub 2020 Sep 24.

Basic Psychological Need-Satisfying Activities during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Behzad Behzadnia  1 , Saeideh FatahModares  2
Affiliations

Basic Psychological Need-Satisfying Activities during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Behzad Behzadnia et al. Appl Psychol Health Well Being. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Background: The rapidly spreading novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) worldwide may increase fear and stress, and has a cost for people's well-being and their motivation toward activities. In this study, we applied principles from Self-Determination Theory to develop and test activities to satisfy basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) to enhance the experience of need satisfaction, autonomous self-regulation, and subjective vitality, and to decrease the experience of need frustration, controlled self-regulation, amotivation, and perceived stress.

Method: Using a 10-day experimental research design among an Iranian sample (N = 208, Mage = 23.52, SD = 5.00), we randomly allocated participants to either an experimental (basic psychological need-satisfying activities intervention, n = 98) or a control (neutral comparison group, n = 110) condition.

Results: Repeated measure ANCOVA showed that participants in the experimental condition reported greater psychological need satisfaction, autonomous self-regulation, subjective vitality, and lesser psychological need frustration, amotivation, and perceived stress than did participants in the control condition.

Conclusion: We conclude that the intervention was successful in helping participants enhance their motives and well-being and reduce their stress when life is surrounded by uncertainty and during social distancing restrictions.

Keywords: motivational self-regulation; need satisfaction; stressful situation; vitality.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Adler, N.E., Epel, E.S., Castellazzo, G., & Ickovics, J.R. (2000). Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy white women. Health Psychology, 19(6), 586-592.
    1. Aelterman, N., Vansteenkiste, M., Van Keer, H., Van den Berghe, L., De Meyer, J., & Haerens, L. (2012). Students' objectively measured physical activity levels and engagement as a function of between-class and between-student differences in motivation toward physical education. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 34(4), 457-480.
    1. Beaumont, P., Boseley, S., & Davidson, H. (2020). Global coronavirus cases pass 1.5 million amid fears of second wave of outbreaks. The Guardian, 9 April.
    1. Behzadnia, B., Adachi, P.J.C., Deci, E.L., & Mohammadzadeh, H. (2018). Associations between students' perceptions of physical education teachers' interpersonal styles and students' wellness, knowledge, performance, and intentions to persist at physical activity: A self-determination theory approach. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 39, 10-19.
    1. Behzadnia, B., Ahmadi, M., & Amani, J. (2017). The factorial structure of the self-regulation questionnaire in college physical education classes (SRQ-PE). Research on Sport Management and Motor Behavior, 7(13), 39-48.

LinkOut - more resources