Does psychological need satisfaction perceived online enhance well-being?

The Internet has been building a new context, in which adolescents and young people complete their academic tasks, do their work, engage in social interaction, and even conduct anonymous identity experimentation. Therefore, it becomes very significant to assess psychological need satisfaction online, and to relate it to well-being. This study investigated the influence on well-being of psychological need satisfaction perceived online and the regulatory role in this relationship of psychological need satisfaction perceived in daily life. A total of 1,727 students from junior and senior high schools and universities in China were surveyed using the Basic Psychological Needs in General scale, the Basic Psychological Needs in the Online World scale, and the Index of Well-Being, Index of General Affect scale. The mean age of the adolescent sample was 17.47 years (ranging from 12.50 to 25.42 years). The results indicated that both need satisfaction perceived online and that perceived in daily life positively predicted psychological well-being, and psychological need satisfaction in daily life qualified the association between psychological need satisfaction perceived online and well-being. In particular, students who perceived higher psychological need satisfaction in daily life were found to benefit from psychological need satisfaction perceived online, but students with low psychological need satisfaction perceived in daily life did not. We suggest that people who perceive lower basic need satisfaction in daily life are more likely to use the Internet for socioaffective regulation and to consider cyberspace as a new world. Thus, need satisfaction perceived online may not transform into "real" happiness.