The relation of psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness to vitality, well-being, and mortality in a nursing home

Drawing from both self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1991) and Carsten sen's (1993) socioemotional selectivity theory, we hypothesized that well-b eing and health would be facilitated by: (a) greater personal autonomy; (b) perceived support for autonomy from both nursing-home staff and residents' friends and relatives; and (c) the emotional quality (rather than quantity ) of residents' contacts with friends and family. Results based on structur ed interview and survey data from 50 nursing-home residents, showed that bo th autonomy support and relatedness indexes correlated with psychological o utcomes. Personal autonomy also was significantly related to mortality at a I-year followup. It also was found that subjective vitality (Ryan & Freder ick, 1997) was associated with lower distress and greater well-being, and p erceived autonomy and relatedness.