BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS AND FLOURISHING IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A Comparison Between The Philippines and Argentina

NINO JOSE MATEO; MARIA GUADALUPE SALANGA; BELÉN MESURADO

París

Congreso; 28th International Congress of Applied Psychology; 2014

Self-determination theory (SDT) proposes that the satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs (BPN) of competence, autonomy, and relatedness are determinants of well-being and optimal functioning in various domains (Baard, Deci & Ryan, 2004; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Flourishing is a concept that measures overall well-being and human functioning (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005). Previous studies reveal that instrinsic need satisfaction predict psychological well-being of employees (Baard, Deci & Ryan, 2004, Deci, Ryan, Gagne, Leone, Usunov, & Kornazheva, 2001). The current study aims to examine need satisfaction and well-being (i.e. flourishing) in university students from the Philippines and Argentina. By examining the variables in the educational context in two countries, the propositions in the Basic Psychological Nees subtheory of SDT were tested in cross-cultural sample. One hundred seventy six Filipinos and 171 Argentinean students completed the Intrinsic Need Satisfaction (Baard, Deci & Ryan, 2004) and Flourishing Scales (Diener, Wirtz, Tov, Kim-Prieto, Choi, Oishi & BIswas-Diener, 2009). Results from the two linear regression analyses show that autonomy, competence and relatedness are associated with flourishing in university students in both countries. Autonomy, however, had a weaker relationship with flourishing. The implications of the findings to BPN and educational practice in both cultures were explored.