Reciprocal influences between autonomous motivation and the use of motivational regulation strategies

Abstract

We investigated the reciprocal influences between autonomous motivation and the use of motivational regulation strategies. We analyzed the data of longitudinal surveys of junior high school and high school students (N = 745) at three time points. First, we conducted a principal component analysis to identify the quantitative (frequency of use) and qualitative components (extrinsic component) of the motivational regulation strategies. Next, we employed a cross-lagged model to analyze the causal relationships between the autonomous motivation and the two components of the motivational regulation strategies. The results revealed that autonomous motivation negatively predicted the subsequent extrinsic component of the motivational regulation strategies. In addition, the extrinsic component of the motivational regulation strategies negatively predicted subsequent autonomous motivation. These findings suggest that there will be some procyclical dynamics between academic motivation and the use of motivational regulation strategies.