Profiles of Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Settings: An Examination of Differences in Contextual Motivation, Affect, and Achievement Goals

Understanding leisure-time physical activity is vital for a healthy world. It is well known that physical activity has positive effects on psychological health, but further evidence is required to ascertain how different environments influence positive behavioral outcomes. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the differences in contextual motivation, affect, and achievement goals according to profiles of basic psychological needs in adult exercisers. The sample consisted of 401 young adult exercisers ranging in age from 18 to 40 years from fitness centers in Izmir, Turkey. Participants completed measures of basic needs satisfaction, exercise motivations, trait affect, and achievement goals. Hierarchical cluster analysis, k-mean cluster analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and post hoc analyses were performed. The results in this study revealed that the participants in Cluster 1, who were labeled as “very satisfied”, had higher scores than the other clusters in terms of positive behavioral outcomes. The results of this study revealed that greater satisfaction of the basic psychological needs leads to positive behavioral consequences in exercise contexts.