The Relationship Between Adaptive Functioning and Wellbeing: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective, Poster 19

Self-Determination Theory posits that three basic psychological needs – competence, autonomy, and relatedness – must be fulfilled in order to maximize wellbeing and good social development of an individual. Relatedness... [ view full abstract ]

Self-Determination Theory posits that three basic psychological needs – competence, autonomy, and relatedness – must be fulfilled in order to maximize wellbeing and good social development of an individual. Relatedness specifically is important for feeling a sense of security in a context wherein others are present. It is one thing to feel competent and autonomous when one is alone, another altogether to maintain that confidence in increasingly public settings. Therefore, I explore the significance of this factor on wellbeing through the analysis of a subset of data gathered by the UVM Center for Children, Youth, and Families through their Vermont Family-Based Approach (VFBA) project, including data from 102 men and women aged 24-53 recruited through their child’s primary pediatric care office at the University of Vermont Medical Center. The Adult Self-Report (ASR) form asks individuals ages 18-59 to answer questions about their personal relationships with others, as well as to rate their self-perceptions and feelings as “not true,” “somewhat or sometimes true,” and “very true or often true” (e.g. “I am too forgetful,” or “My moods swing between elation and depression”). Personal relationship questions translate to scores on an Adaptive Functioning scale, which is treated as a proxy for relatedness. Adaptive Functioning scores will be statistically analyzed against indicators of wellbeing as reported by the second portion of the ASR that addresses self-perceptions and feelings related to overall wellbeing. Specifically we hypothesized that higher Adaptive Functioning scores will predict lower scores of negative self-perception and negative feelings.