Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Abstract

Background: Preparing a valid instrument to measure the basic psychological needs in Iranian populations is necessary for research purposes.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine reliability, validity, and exploratory factor analysis of a Persian version of the Basic Needs Satisfaction in General Scale (BNSG-S) in a sample of Iranian students.
Method: Five hundred and eighty four students (273 males, 311 females) were participated in this study, voluntarily. All participants were asked to complete the BNSG-S (Gagne, 2003), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Scale (EPQ-RS; Eysenck, Eysenck, & Barrett, 1985), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-28; Besharat, 2009).
Results: The results of exploratory factor analysis supported a single general factor of basic needs satisfaction in general and a three factor structure including Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness. The convergent and discriminant validity of the BNSG-S were supported by an expected pattern of correlations between the scale and the measures of personality and mental health. All correlation coefficients between the mean scores on the BNSG-S and scores of the extraversion, neuroticism, positive affect, negative affect, psychological well-being, and psychological distress were statistically significant. Coefficient alpha estimates of internal reliability were between .83 and .91 for the BNSG-S subscales. Test-retest reliability of the BNSG-S was also calculated at the range of .67-.77. All correlations were statistically significant.
Conclusion: It was concluded that the BNSG-S can be considered as a reliable and valid scale to measure the basic needs satisfaction in Iranian samples.

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