Abstract:

Silence of autonomy and relatedness emphasized by self-determination theory which conceptualizes autonomy and relatedness as basic psychological needs. However, subjective well-being is influenced by the satisfaction of autonomy and relatedness needs differently because satisfaction of these needs differs as a function of culture. This study explored how subjective well-being of adolescents as a function of autonomous, related, autonomous-related self-construals. The research group consisted of 580 students from grades 9th to 11th in Ankara. Adolescents were 14 to 18 years of age (M=16.26, SD=1.06). Of the participants, 336 (58 %) were female, 244 (42 %) were male. In order to collect data Personal Information Sheet, Autonomous-Related Self-in-Family Scales, Positive and Negative Affect Scale and Life Satisfaction Scales were used. Results of MANOVA revealed that the related and autonomous-related self-construal has an impact on adolescents’ positive affect and life satisfaction. Autonomous self-construal has an effect on negative affect of adolescents. Adolescents who define themselves as relational and autonomous-relational have higher life satisfaction and positive affect scores than adolescents’ who define themselve as autonomous. Also, negative affect scores of adolescents categorized as autonomous were found to be higher than adolescents categorized as autonomous-relational. These findings underscore the importance of relatedness and autonomy-relatedness for youth’s positive well-being in Turkish culture. This study has important implications for counselors and parents.

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