Washington, April 29 (ANI): Students who are not performing well academically may not be motivated to attend college in the first place, researchers say.
Researchers at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester tracked the relationship between student motivation for attending college and the academic outcomes of 2,500 college students attending two different institutions-a two-year community college and a four-year liberal arts college-in the northeast.
This was the first comprehensive study to examine these relationships using a large sample of college students across multiple institutions and to control for various student demographic variables, such as socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and gender. Students completed a web-based survey, which included providing information about their backgrounds, their GPAs and intentions to persist, and scales assessing the three areas of intrinsic motivation outlined by SDT-the degree to which they attended college to fulfill needs for autonomy (to study areas of interest), competence (to test and challenge their abilities), or relatedness (to establish close, secure relationships with others).
Through their research, the team confirmed that students who attend college to fulfill needs for autonomy and competence, two core components of intrinsic motivation, tended to have higher grades and intentions to persist. The researchers also found, however, that student socioeconomic status affected these relationships. Studying subject areas to fulfill needs for autonomy and competence was more important to the success of students of high socioeconomic status than low-income students, whose motivation may be more influenced by a need to improve their financial situation. This finding suggests that student affairs professionals should recognize that students from low-income households are likely to benefit not only from a system of student support that fosters intrinsic motivation, but also one that acknowledges their desire to improve their financial situation through academic success.
The findings also demonstrated that altruism-the motivation to attend college to be able to give back to one's community-is a more powerful academic motivator for students of color than for white students. Students of color who were motivated to attend college to give back to their home communities showed an even greater intention to persist than did white students who indicated the same motivation for attending college, which is a finding that has important implications for supporting students of color. (ANI)
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