Bidirectional relationship between autonomy need satisfaction and “lying flat” among Chinese youth

Amid China's competitive social environment, young people increasingly perceive "involution" as undermining autonomy, with some asserting that "lying flat" serves as an autonomy-restoring strategy. Here, we attempted to explore whether unmet autonomy needs drive "lying flat" or if "lying flat" genuinely fulfils individuals' autonomy need through empirical research. We combined a large-sample questionnaire survey (Study 1) and a longitudinal follow-up study (Study 2) to investigate the relationship between individuals' autonomy need satisfaction and "lying flat". In Study 1, we found that there was a significant negative correlation between individuals' autonomy need satisfaction and "lying flat". More importantly, the cross-lagged analysis in Study 2 found that individuals' autonomy need satisfaction negatively predicted "lying flat" 1 month later, and "lying flat" also negatively predicted individuals' autonomy need satisfaction 1 month later. These findings revealed a bidirectional negative prediction relationship between individuals' autonomy need satisfaction and "lying flat", which challenge the folk viewpoint that "lying flat" satisfies autonomy needs.