Psychological Needs Test (BPNSFS)
Chen et al. (2015) · 24 items · are your autonomy, relatedness, and competence needs met?
Are the things you do each day chosen or imposed? Do you feel cared for and accepted? Do you trust your abilities? The Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) uses 24 items to map the satisfaction and frustration of your three core needs - autonomy, relatedness, and competence - across six subscales. About 3 minutes. A research instrument, not a diagnostic tool.
What Are Basic Psychological Needs?
Self-Determination Theory holds that people have three basic psychological needs: autonomy (doing things by choice, not obligation), relatedness (feeling close to others, cared for, and a sense of belonging), and competence (feeling you can do things well). These needs are the nutrients of psychological growth - the more they are satisfied, the better your vitality, life satisfaction, and emotional health; when chronically thwarted, they are linked to burnout, loneliness, and low mood.
Satisfaction and Frustration Are Different Things
The distinctive design of this scale: need satisfaction and need frustration are measured separately, not as opposite ends of one axis. You can be doing things you love while feeling squeezed elsewhere, or have neither much to want nor much pressure. That is why the result is not a total score but six independent subscale scores.
The Six Subscales
Autonomy satisfaction (4 items): doing things voluntarily, decisions from within, room for choice.
Autonomy frustration (4 items): feeling controlled, pushed, days like a chain of obligations.
Relatedness satisfaction (4 items): people you care about care back, warmth in relationships.
Relatedness frustration (4 items): excluded, coldly treated, relationships surface only.
Competence satisfaction (4 items): trusting you can do things well and reach goals.
Competence frustration (4 items): self-doubt, disappointment, feeling like a failure.
Each subscale runs 4-20. Read them separately: someone can have strong career confidence (competence satisfaction) while relationships feel distant (relatedness frustration); someone else can live autonomously (autonomy satisfaction) yet constantly doubt themselves (competence frustration). The three needs run in parallel and cannot substitute for each other.
Scoring & Interpretation
Each subscale is scored separately; higher means more of that dimension. Use the results for self-understanding, not diagnosis.
Reliability & Validity
The original study covered samples from the US, China, Peru, and Belgium. Internal consistency (alpha) in the China subsample ranged 0.65-0.76 across subscales. Research shows need satisfaction positively relates to life satisfaction and vitality, while need frustration positively relates to depressive symptoms - and the frustration link to depression is stronger than the satisfaction link.
This test is for education and self-exploration only. It is not a clinical diagnostic instrument.
Result Interpretation
After completing the 24 questions, you'll receive an immediate, detailed report with:
- Your score — calculated automatically based on your responses
- Score interpretation — what your score means in practical terms
- Dimension breakdown — separate scores for each sub-scale
- Context — how your results compare to general population norms where available
All results are displayed on screen. No account or login needed.