The relationship between relative levels of motivation and intrapersonal, interpersonal, and academic functioning among older adolescents

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Abstract

Using cluster analysis to combine specific adaptive measures related to mastery motivation (intrinsic motivation, self-adequacy, and locus of control), a total of 654 high school students were placed into distinct adaptive motivation groups. Mean scores on a variety of self-reported and peer-reported measures of interpersonal, intrapersonal, and academic functioning were compared across the groups. Results found that youth in the “high adaptive” motivation group reported significantly higher global and family satisfaction, self-esteem, interpersonal relations, grade-point average and school belonging, and significantly lower depression, anxiety and social stress than youth in the other two motivation groups. Peer-reported prosocial and academic behaviors were significantly related to higher levels of adaptive motivation. Collectively, these findings suggest a number of psychological, social, and academic benefits that are associated with incremental levels of adaptive motivation. The implications of these findings for research and practice conclude the paper.

Section snippets

Purpose of the study

To help resolve some issues within the motivation literature, the current study administered a variety of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and academic measures to over 650 high school students. Peer-reports were also obtained for specific prosocial and academic behaviors. Measures of intrinsic motivation, sense of adequacy and locus of control were subjected to cluster analysis, and the results were used to classify students into “high”, “average” and “low” adaptive motivation groups. Although

Sample

During the Spring of 2005, 654 ninth-grade youth (out of a possible 980) completed the research instruments, yielding a 67% return rate. All participants were from three high schools in three separate school districts in one Southeastern state. Two high schools were located in cities with populations less than 50,000 people (district enrollment = 7097 and 9799, respectively), and one high school was located in a city with a population of over 250,000 (district enrollment = 36,938). The mean age of

Results

Pearson bivariate correlations and descriptive statistics for all variables in the study are reported in Table 1. All correlations were significant and in the expected direction. For example, the BASC clinical subscales shared negative and significant associations with positive mental health indicators (self-esteem, life satisfaction, and interpersonal relationships), and significant and positive relationships with all maladaptive indicators, respectively. Further, the general scale of the

Discussion

The results of this study yielded two notable findings. Specifically, based on scores across all intrapersonal, interpersonal, and academic indicators, and regardless of sex, youth reporting significantly lower adaptive motivation (i.e., comparatively lower intrinsic motivation and self-adequacy, and comparatively higher external locus of control) appeared to display pervasive adjustment problems that were not found among youth reporting higher adaptive motivation. These findings were

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the following individuals for their assistance in this project: Ashley Dethloff, Russell Hall, Kristen Mobbs, and Alex Nounopoulos.

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