Trajectories of motivation and their academic correlates over the first year of college

• Published in: Contemporary educational psychology Vol. 63; p. 101907
• Main Authors: Corpus, Jennifer Henderlong, Robinson, Kristy A., Wormington, Stephanie V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Academic achievement; College transition; Developmental change; First-year students; Motivation; Self-Determination Theory; Academic achievement; Motivation; Self-Determination Theory; Developmental change; College transition; First-year students
• ISSN: 0361-476X; 1090-2384
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101907

•Autonomous motivation began high but decreased over the first year of college.•Controlled motivation began low to moderate but increased over the first year of college.•Initial levels of identified regulation and amotivation predicted academic outcomes.•Change trajectories of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and amotivation predicted academic outcomes.•Controlled motivation did not predict academic outcomes. The first year of college is a pivotal time for academic and personal development, yet there is still much to be learned about motivational change during this period. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT), we assessed six distinct types of motivation among an initial sample of 776 students at four time points over the first year of college. Latent growth models indicated initially high but declining levels of intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, moderate but increasing levels of positive and negative introjection, and low but increasing levels of external regulation and amotivation. These patterns suggest that, on average, more autonomous types of motivation tend to decrease over the first year of college while more controlled types of motivation tend to increase. Academic functioning was predicted by (a) initial levels of both identified regulation and amotivation and (b) change trajectories for intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and amotivation. These findings suggest that contextual supports for building autonomous motivation and minimizing amotivation appear to be essential both prior to college entry and throughout the first year.