Motivation of UK graduate students in education: self-compassion moderates pathway from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation

Academic motivation is recognised as a key factor for academic success and wellbeing. Highly motivated students actively engage with academic activities and maintain good wellbeing. Despite the importance of motivation in education, its relationship with engagement and wellbeing remains to be evalua...

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Published inCurrent psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) Vol. 42; no. 12; pp. 10163 - 10176
Main Authors Kotera, Yasuhiro, Taylor, Elaina, Fido, Dean, Williams, Dan, Tsuda-McCaie, Freya
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.04.2023
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Education
Graduate students
Learning
Mental health
Motivation
Motivation in education
Psychological aspects
Psychological research
Psychology
Self compassion
Social Sciences
Student retention
Success
United Kingdom
Intrinsic motivation
Engagement
Self-criticism
Academic motivation
Academic
Self-compassion
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Summary:Academic motivation is recognised as a key factor for academic success and wellbeing. Highly motivated students actively engage with academic activities and maintain good wellbeing. Despite the importance of motivation in education, its relationship with engagement and wellbeing remains to be evaluated. Accordingly, this study explored the relationships between motivation, engagement, self-criticism and self-compassion among UK education postgraduate students. Of 120 postgraduate students approached, 109 completed three self-report scales regarding those constructs. Correlation, regression and moderation analyses were performed. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were positively associated with engagement, whereas amotivation was negatively associated with it. Engagement positively predicted intrinsic motivation. Self-criticism and self-compassion moderated the pathway from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation: higher self-criticism weakened the pathway, while higher self-compassion strengthened it. Findings suggest the importance of engagement in relation to cultivating intrinsic motivation of education students. Moreover, enhancing self-compassion and reducing self-criticism can help transfer extrinsic to intrinsic motivation.
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ISSN:1046-1310
1936-4733
DOI:10.1007/s12144-021-02301-6