Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Motivating Adults to Dance Lindy Hop

BACKGROUND: Despite the evidence for the positive effects of social dance on multiple dimensions of health, there remains limited understanding of the socio-cognitive processes that influence adults' motivation for social dance participation. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to use the theoretical lens of basic psychological need satisfaction associated with self-determination theory (SDT) to investigate how Lindy Hop, a particular form of social dance, influences adults' motivation to initiate and sustain dance participation. METHODS: This study employed a qualitative research design using a 15-item open response survey instrument to explore the experiences of individuals who engage in Lindy Hop (Lindy Hoppers) with a specific focus on how the constructs of SDT are satisfied through dance participation. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis to identify emergent categories. RESULTS: Responses from 152 adult Lindy Hoppers generated 1158 discrete quotations, from which 7 categories were identified that represent a spectrum of motivational factors involved with Lindy Hop participation. The basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence represent the dominant deductive categories, while emotions, physical health, jazz music, and culture describe the 4 inductive categories of influence. Though participants acknowledged occasional need-frustrating elements of Lindy Hop, these were consistently outweighed by positive, need-satisfying aspects of the dance. CONCLUSION: Participating in Lindy Hop offers a physical activity environment that can potentially balance the interplay of social, emotional, and cultural dimensions and satisfy the 3 basic psychological needs required for internalized motivation that contributes to sustained dance participation. Future research could build upon these exploratory findings to quantify the relationship between need-satisfying and need-frustrating factors in understanding motivation to participate in social dance.