Speaker
Description
Autonomous academic motivation represents students’ innate drive to learn. It is associated with students’ greater academic achievement and well-being. Thus, it is concerning that research indicates a decline of autonomous motivation in adolescence. However, investigation into whether this decline is present across all types of autonomous motivation has been limited. Autonomous motivation encompasses identified motivation, arising from recognizing education’s value, and intrinsic motivation, derived interest in learning. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the trajectories of autonomous forms of motivation and their determinants. The research was conducted as a part of the Free Career Choice project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. Sample consisted of 688 high school students (61.1% female). Students participated in three data-collection waves, assessing their autonomous motivation from the first to the third grade of high school. The results indicate that students had different baseline levels of both identified and intrinsic motivation, with gender, school program, and conscientiousness as significant positive predictors of higher baseline levels. Furthermore, identified motivation demonstrated a slight linear decline, while intrinsic motivation remained stable over time. Gender and conscientiousness emerged as significant predictors of change in identified motivation, with stronger decline found for girls and more conscientious students. Overall, contrary to findings from former research, the results suggest relative stability of the autonomous forms of motivation. Although that is encouraging, it is important to strengthen autonomous motivation to mitigate the small decline in identified motivation and enhance intrinsic motivation, which, although stable, is low in its absolute level.
| Are you currently an Early Career Researcher? | Yes, I am still a student or have not yet received my Ph.D. |
|---|
