Participants •  94 first0year community college students •  66% female, 32% male, 2% missing •  Mean age: 19.2 (SD = 2.8)

range: 18-32 •  Average GPA: 3.29 (SD = .64) •  Ethnicity:

Design •  Short-term longitudinal online study

Fall assessment: 124 students Spring assessment: 94 students

Measures •  Intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation: Academic Motivation Scale

(Vallerand et al., 1992). •  Goal engagement: Optimization in Primary and Secondary Control Scale

in the Domain of Education (Heckhausen & Tomasik, 2002) •  Academic performance: Self-reported GPA, 4-point scale •  Academic behavior: Units enrolled in per semester, hours in class each

week, hours studying each week, percent attending class, meeting with an academic advisor

•  Transfer-related variables: Expected years to transfer (ambitiousness), perceived importance of transfer goals

Motivation, Self-Regulation, and Individual Agency in Higher-Education Goal Pursuit

Gabriela Hernandez, Iliana Limas, Maria Merino, Yuwei Wang Brandilynn Villarreal . Dr. Jutta Heckhausen

Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California Irvine

Methods

•  Motivation serves an important role in higher education, but may be especially important for community college students who aspire to transfer to a university.

•  This study investigated the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, goal engagement, and academic behavior in first-year community college students.

•  Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are associated with positive academic behaviors and performance (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Intrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is performed because one enjoys the activity.

Extrinsic motivation refers to behavior driven by external incentives.

•  Goal engagement helps explain the process of goal pursuit, and what happens when a student faces challenges that may affect his/her chances of success or failure (Heckhausen et. al, 2010).

Discussion

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American psychologist, 55(1), 68.

Heckhausen, J., Wrosch, C., & Schulz, R. (2010). A motivational theory of life-span development. Psychological review, 117(1), 32.

Heckhausen, J., & Tomasik, M. J. (2002). Get an apprenticeship before school is out: How German adolescents adjust vocational aspirations when getting close to a developmental deadline. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60(2), 199-219.

Vallerand, R. J., Pelletier, L. G., Blais, M. R., Briere, N. M., Senecal, C., & Vallieres, E. F. (1992). The academic motivation scale: A measure of intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation in education. Educational and psychological measurement, 52(4), 1003-1017.

•  There was not a significant correlation between extrinsic or intrinsic motivation and GPA, but GPA was negatively correlated with amotivation.

No other academic behaviors were correlated with motivation. However, intrinsic motivation was positively associated with all satisfaction variables, including academic behavior and progress. The importance of school was positively correlated with extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

•  The expected number of years to transfer to a university and other transfer variables were not associated with motivation.

•  Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation were positively associated with goal engagement, and amotivation was negatively associated with goal engagement.

Limitations, future research, and implications

•  Small and select sample size. Future research can incentivize students though extra credit rather than a monetary reward.

•  Future studies should investigate intrinsic motivation as a predictor of satisfaction with educational goals.

•  The results may be useful for academic advisors to understand the sources of motivation among community college students.

Hypotheses Intrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic Motivation

Amotivation Goal Engagement

GPA and other academic behaviors

+ + - +

Transfer-related variables + + - + Goal Engagement + + -

Results

Preliminary analyses: Understanding out sample

Table 1: Correlations between academic behavior and transfer related variables

Additional analyses: Understanding our sample

Table 2: Correlations between academic behavior and transfer-related variables

•  Students who expected more years until transfer took fewer units, met with a college counselor more frequently, and had lower GPAs. They were also less serious about college than students who expected it to take fewer years to transfer.

•  Students who reported being more serious about transferring had higher GPAs, took more units, and expected it to take them fewer years to transfer to a university.

•  Students with lower GPAs were more likely to believe that they could get a good

career without transferring and that an AA degree, rather than a BA degree, was a good start to a career.

Introduction Table 1: Correlations between motivation, academic performance, and transfer-related variables