LEISURE AND MENTAL-HEALTH - RELATIONS BETWEEN MOTIVATION FOR CERTAIN FORMS OF LEISURE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

The main objective of the present article is to study relationships be tween different forms of motivation adjustment towards forms of leisur e and psychological well-being. The self-determination theory proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985) yields a unique analysis framework enabling u s to reach this objective. According to Deci and Ryan, there would be different types of motivation differentiated by the degree of self-det ermination on which development rests. Because it is assumed that thes e types of motivation are part of a continuum ranging between low and high degrees of self-determination (Deci and Ryan, 1985), and that a h igher degree of self-determination is associated with a better psychol ogical functioning (Deci, 1980), we hypothesize that highly self-deter mined motivation types would be linked to a globally more positive psy chological well-being. In order to verify this assumption, 463 subject s answered a questionnaire that included motivation scales towards for ms of leisure (MSTFL) as well as scales allowing to develop a psycholo gical well-being index (PWBI). The results support the hypothesis. Ind eed, leisure activities governed by more self-determined forms of moti vation (intrinsic and extrinsic by identified adjustment) are generall y associated with more positive psychological wellbeing than leisure a ctivities governed by less self-determined forms of motivation.