| Research has shown that psychological need satisfaction, as defined by self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 1985; 2000) and attributional style, the general pattern people use to explain events, both correlate with well-being (e.g., Milyavskaya & Koestner, 2011; Sanjuan, Perez, Rueda, & Ruiz, 2008; Wichmann, 2011; Zhang et al., 2014). Yet, few studies have explored the relationships among attributional style, psychological need satisfaction, and well-being. The present study explored how these three constructs are related. A total of 355 participants were administered self-report questionnaires measuring psychological need satisfaction (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness), attributional style for positive and negative events, and well-being. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationships among the variables. The results showed that attributional style for positive events was positively and significantly related to psychological need satisfaction and to well-being, while attributional style for negative events was significantly and negatively related to psychological need satisfaction and to well-being. It was also found that attributional style for positive events had a stronger relationship with both psychological need satisfaction and well-being compared to attributional style for negative events. The results also showed that attributional style for both positive and negative events and psychological need satisfaction together had an additive rather than an interactive influence on well-being. In conclusion, this study provides new evidence on how these three constructs are related, but future research is needed to further explore these relationships. Limitations of the current study and future research directions are discussed. |
