Mindfulness, Basic Psychological Needs Fulfillment, and Well-Being

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.