Psychological need satisfaction across levels of experience: Their organization and contribution to general well-being

The present research examines the interrelation between psychological need satisfaction at the general, domain-specific, and episodic levels of experience, and the extent to which need satisfaction at each level predicts general well-being independently of the other levels. Results show evidence for both top-down and bottom-up effects of need satisfaction across three levels of experience and provide support for a heterarchical model of need satisfaction. Psychological need satisfaction at three distinct levels of experience independently contributes to general well-being both measured concurrently and prospectively. Overall, the present research provides a theoretical and empirical model of the organization of need satisfaction across multiple levels of experience. This supports the importance of assessing need satisfaction at multiple levels of experience. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.