Development of a range of basic needs in sport context

The purpose of the present three studies was to develop and validate a questionnaire designed to measure perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness in the sport context. Deci and Ryan (1985) postulate that the intrinsic motivated behaviour is associated with the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Exploratory (Study 1) and confirmatory analyses (Study 2) were conducted amongst French athletes. These studies demonstrated an acceptable internal consistency and confirmed the three-factor structure of the questionnaire. In addition, the construct validity of the scale was also corroborated in Study 3 where perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness were found to predict the different types of sport motivation.