In this master thesis, we investigated the role of different types of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amotivation and belongingness to subculture in the satisfaction of needs for autonomy, competence, relatedness and physical thriving in extreme sports. Self-determination theory identifies autonomy, competence and relatedness as three basic psychological needs that are especially related to intrinsic types of motivation. As subcultures are an important aspect of extreme sports, we wanted to investigate the role of belongingness to subculture in the satisfaction of these three basic psychological needs. Physical thriving is a common motive for sporting activity, so we were also interested in how different types of motivation for extreme sports relate to the need for physical thriving in extreme sports. 130 people who do extreme sports competitively or non-competitively participated in the study. In the online survey, participants completed a Basic need satisfaction at work questionnaire and a Sports motivation scale, which were adapted to the field of extreme sports. They also answered 3 items measuring satisfaction of the need for physical thriving in extreme sports and one item measuring belonging to an extreme sports subculture. The results of multiple linear regression showed that satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs in extreme sports is among the motivation types best predicted by amotivation (negatively) and intrinsic motivation for stimulation in extreme sports (positively). Satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs in extreme sports is also positively predicted by belongingness to the subculture of extreme sports. Intrinsic motivation for achievement also positively predicted satisfaction of the need for physical thriving in extreme sports, whereas amotivation predicted it negatively. We consider the finding that belongingness to extreme sports subculture plays an important role in the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs in extreme sports as a main contribution of our research, as it further clarifies in which sporting environment it is possible to satisfy these needs, which are important for healthy personality development.
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