"The Influence of Basic Psychological Need Fulfillment on Psychological Flexibility Among Athletes in a Team Environment"

Abstract

Athletes have routinely used approaches such as stress management, resilience training and attention control training to cope with the psychological demands of performance. Psychological flexibility (PF) is emerging as a useful construct to conceptualise how athletes respond in sporting environments; higher levels of PF are characterised by an ability to pursue sporting performance outcomes, despite stress. Although the enhancement of PF has traditionally been approached through acceptance and commitment therapy interventions, several recent studies have shown a positive relationship between PF and the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs (BPN) of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Nevertheless, to date no studies have examined the relationship between PF and BPN among athletes within a sporting context. The aim of this study was to examine the potential influence of BPN satisfaction on PF, as well as assess the incremental validity of need frustration scales in the prediction of PF levels. This study examined 68 semi- professional Australian rules footballers, over the age of 18 years, on measures of BPN and PF. Correlation and regression analysis were used to assess the hypothesized relationships both at a domain and subdomain level. The results were consistent with findings from previous research in non-athletic samples that have reported a relationship between BPN satisfaction and PF. Unique effects of competence satisfaction on PF and its subcomponents of acceptance and avoidance were observed. However, the addition of Need Frustration scales did not add to the statistical prediction of PF. The results of this study contribute to the literature on psychological flexibility among athletes and suggests novel forms of intervention to increase psychological flexibility in this population. Keywords: psychological flexibility, basic psychological needs, self-determination theory, athletes, sport