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Mindfulness, Basic Psychological Needs Fulfillment, and Well-Being

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Abstract

The positive relationship between mindfulness and well-being has been demonstrated to a great extent in prior studies; however, the underlying psychological mechanism relating mindfulness to well-being is not fully understood. Based on self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan in Psychol Inq 11:227–268, 2000), this article proposed the basic psychological needs fulfillment (i.e., autonomy, relatedness, and competence) as the key mechanisms that account for the relationship between mindfulness and well-being. The results of our two studies revealed that mindfulness, basic psychological needs fulfillment, hedonic (Study 1) and eudaimonic well-being (Study 2) are correlated with each other. In addition, the positive relationships between mindfulness and both hedonic (Study 1) and eudaimonic well-being (Study 2) can be mediated via basic psychological needs fulfillment. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Heping East Road Section 1, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jen-Ho Chang

  2. Department of Humanities and Social Science, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43, Sec. 4, Keelung Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City, 10607, Taiwan

    Chin-Lan Huang

  3. Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

    Yi-Cheng Lin

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  1. Jen-Ho Chang
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  2. Chin-Lan Huang
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  3. Yi-Cheng Lin
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Correspondence to Jen-Ho Chang.

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Chang, JH., Huang, CL. & Lin, YC. Mindfulness, Basic Psychological Needs Fulfillment, and Well-Being. J Happiness Stud 16, 1149–1162 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9551-2

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