Just need some satisfaction: examining the relationship between passion for exercise and the basic psychological needs

Background: Individuals often pursue activities for which they are passionate, and this passion is operationalized as being harmonious (an autonomous desire to engage in the activity) or obsessive (a controlled desire to engage in the activity) in nature. With regard to harmonious passion,Vallerand and colleagues suggests that it is fostered in environments that nurture innate needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to explore the nature of the passion (harmonious, obsessive)-­‐basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy, relatedness) relationship. Methods: Kinesiology students (n = 917;Mage 18.54, SD = 1.66) completed the Passion Scale and Psychological Need Satisfaction in Exercise Scale. Results: Results from the SEM path analysis indicated that harmonious passion was positively related to competence (SPE = 0.43) and relatedness (SPE = 0.43) and obsessive passion was negatively related to autonomy (SPE = -­‐0.18) (CFI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.07, SRMR = 0.07). Conclusions: These finding have significant implications for exercise participation/enjoyment are discussed.