Psychological Need Satisfaction During Physical Activity: Differences Across Physical and Social Contexts in a Large-Scale Study.

Physical inactivity is a public health problem. Accordingly, there is growing interest in whether engaging in physical activity (PA) that satisfies psychological needs (e.g. safety, novelty) is more likely to be sustained. Physical and social PA contexts (e.g. where, with whom, listening to what) may satisfy different psychological needs based on their unique characteristics. This study examined patterns of psychological-need satisfaction across 30 PA contexts and determined whether the satisfaction of each psychological-need domain was associated with leisure-time PA frequency. Adults (N = 843, meanage = 39.78, range = 18-79 years) rated satisfaction of 13 psychological-need domains (e.g. safety, novelty, creativity, mindfulness, morality) for different PA contexts (e.g. park or trail, alone, listening to a podcast). Overall, PA satisfied more psychological needs when performed in contexts that involved outdoors or social connection (virtually or in person). In contrast, PA satisfied fewer psychological needs in audio contexts. Safety and physical-comfort needs were satisfied across the largest number of contexts; whereas, morality, challenge, and social-esteem needs were satisfied by the least number of contexts. Controlling for age, satisfaction of all psychological needs, except safety and physical comfort, by PA context was positively associated with leisure-time PA frequency. Results suggest that the extent that PA satisfies different psychological needs varies across different contexts and is associated with PA behavior. Providing tailored recommendations of where and with whom to perform PA based on individual differences of psychological needs may promote long-term PA engagement.