A systematic review and meta‐analysis on basic psychological need satisfaction, motivation, and well‐being in later life: Contributions of self‐determination theory

Abstract

As the population ages, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to well‐being in the elderly. The purpose of this study is to perform a systematic review and meta‐analysis of research on well‐being among elderly people conducted particularly within the framework of self‐determination theory and, more precisely, to study the relationships among basic psychological need satisfaction, motivation, and well‐being. Therefore, a systematic search of the literature was conducted using the databases PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Academic Onefile, MEDLINE, Science Direct, and ERIC to find studies published in English and French. China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) was used to find studies published in Chinese. Ultimately, 23 studies (mainly from the United States, Canada, and Europe; no studies published in China were found) in the field of aging were used for the systematic analysis, 17 of which were used for the meta‐analysis. The results reported in these publications are relatively congruent with the idea that basic psychological need satisfaction and motivation (autonomous types) are positively associated with positive indicators of well‐being (meaning in life, life satisfaction, positive affect, self‐esteem, etc.) and negatively associated with negative indicators of well‐being (depression, apathy, etc.).

Basic psychological need satisfaction across the retirement transition: Changes and longitudinal associations with depressive symptoms

“…The between-person level refers to relations between the intercepts and the within-person level refers to relations between occasion-specific deviations from the participants' own mean trajectory. Grounded in the tenets of SDT (Ryan and Deci 2017) and previous findings on the link between need satisfaction and well-being in older adults (Tang et al 2019), we hypothesized that increases in need satisfaction across the retirement transition would be related to decreases in depressive symptoms (H5). Finally, we also examined the direction of relations between need satisfaction and depressive symptoms.…”

Physical Self-Concept Changes in Adults and Older Adults: Influence of Emotional Intelligence, Intrinsic Motivation and Sports Habits

“…Currently, little is known about the specific reasons that might lead sedentary people to regular PA practice [37]. Despite the lack of studies on the older population, for which interest is growing, there is a body of recent research based on the theory of self-determination, which considers self-determined motivation as a predictor of positive psychological, social and emotional consequences in physically active older adults [38][39][40]. These authors suggest that it is mainly intrinsic motivation, such as the enjoyment or consideration of sports as a significant part of one's lifestyle, that help the adherence to PA among the adult population, giving a secondary role to extrinsic motivation, such as competition or social recognition.…”

Live well and die with inner peace: The importance of retrospective need-based experiences, ego integrity and despair for late adults’ death attitudes

“…Although most of these studies focused on children, adolescents, and (young) adults, research increasingly demonstrates the importance of these psychological needs for the well-being among older adults as well (e.g., Custers, Westerhof, Kuin, Gerritsen, & Riksen-Walraven, 2013). Tang, Wang, and Guerrien (2019) showed in a meta-analysis of 17 studies among older adults that need satisfaction relates positively to psychosocial adjustment and wellbeing (e.g., more life satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms). In addition to experiences of need satisfaction, Vanhove-Meriaux, Martinent, and Ferrand (2018) showed that experiences of need frustration among older people living at home play a supplementary role, with individuals experiencing high need satisfaction and low need frustration reporting the highest well-being (e.g., self-esteem) and lowest ill-being (e.g., depressive feelings).…”