Exploring learners' self-efficacy, autonomy and motivation toward e-learning

A questionnaire survey was conducted with 116 college students (47 men, 69 women) in Central Taiwan to investigate predictive relationships among four attitudinal variables, perceived self-efficacy, learners' autonomy, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation toward e-learning. Analysis showed learners' autonomy was predictive of both intrinsic (57% independent variance explained) and extrinsic motivation (61% independent variance explained). Although perceived self-efficacy was not a predictor of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, it correlated significantly with extrinsic motivation.     

Social Cognitions and Past Behavior as Predictors of Behavioral Intentions Related to Cardiovascular Health

The present study assessed the usefulness of social cognitions shared by several health behavior models for predicting behavioral intentions regarding cardiovascular health, independent of past/current behavior. Over 800 adolescents were administered a cross-sectional survey measuring intentions (regarding cigarette use, fat consumption, physical exercise), social cognitions (severity, vulnerability, benefits, self-efficacy), and past/current behavior. Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for past/current behavior, showed a varied predictive profile across behavioral intentions. Severity estimates predicted intended cigarette use and fat consumption, while perceived benefits predicted intended physical activity. However, self-efficacy predicted intentions consistently. Collectively, social cognitions contributed an additional 0.8%, 2.5%, and 11. 6%, of the variance in smoking, dietary fat, and exercise intentions, over and above past/current behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are considered.     

Engagement within occupational trainees: Individual difference predictors and commitment outcome

The present study examines occupational entrants' experiences of their vocational training, its relation with relevant internal characteristics, and its proposed impact on commitment to the profession. Particular focus is paid to trainees' engagement, hypothesizing motivation and self-efficacy as predictors, and occupational commitment as a distal outcome. Data were from 247 recent entrants into professional degree programs (architecture, engineering). All hypothesized predictive relations were supported, such that motivation (as both a composite and as solely intrinsic) and self-efficacy are predictive of engagement, and engagement is predictive of occupational commitment among early-stage trainees. Further, engagement partially mediated the relation between self-efficacy and commitment, and fully mediated the relation between motivation and commitment. Squared multiple correlations for endogenous variables indicated substantial variance in engagement and commitment accounted for by their respective predictors. Moreover, two structural equation models were examined and compared, proposing more holistic nomological nets for how these constructs fit together. A respecified model accounting for a sole focus on intrinsic motivation and a direct path between motivation and commitment was an excellent fit, superseding a competing model conceptualizing motivation as a composite and only an indirect motivation–commitment path. Finally, need for achievement moderated the relation between motivation and engagement such that the relation is stronger for individuals high in need for achievement than it is for those low in the desire to grow in their profession. The study contributes to our understanding of how early occupational trainees' experiences of work and individual characteristics impact their commitment to their intended profession.     

That looks easy! Evidence against the benefits of an easier criterion of success for enhancing motor learning

OPTIMAL theory predicts providing learners with a relatively easier criterion of success during practice enhances motor learning through increased self-efficacy, perceptions of competence, and intrinsic motivation. However, mixed results in the literature suggest this enhancement effect may be moderated by the number of successes achieved by learners practicing with the difficult criterion. To investigate this possibility, we manipulated quantity of practice to affect the absolute number of successes achieved by learners practicing with different success criteria. Eighty participants were divided into four groups and performed 50 or 100 trials of a mini-shuffleboard task. Groups practiced with either a large or a small zone of success surrounding the target. Learning was assessed 24 h after acquisition with retention and transfer tests. In terms of endpoint accuracy and precision, there were no learning or practice performance benefits of practicing with an easier criterion of success, regardless of the number of trials. This absence of a criterion of success effect was despite the efficacy of our manipulation in increasing the number of trials stopping within the zone of success, self-efficacy, perceptions of competence, and, for participants with 100 trials, intrinsic motivation. An equivalence test indicated that the effect of criterion of success was small, if existent. Moreover, at the individual level, intrinsic motivation did not predict posttest or acquisition performance. There were no benefits of easing the criterion of success on pressure, effort, accrual of explicit knowledge, or conscious processing. These data challenge key tenets of OPTIMAL theory and question the efficacy of easing criterion of success for motor learning.     

创新自我效能感对创新行为的影响:多重中介效应分析

采用创新自我效能感量表、内部动机量表、外部动机量表和创新行为量表,对北京和天津地区的144名科技创新者进行问卷调查,检验了科技创新者的创新自我效能感、内部动机、外部动机与创新行为之间的关系。研究结果发现创新自我效能感、内部动机、外部动机和创新行为之间均存在显著正相关;创新自我效能感、内部动机和外部动机均可正向预测创新行为;外部动机和内部动机在创新自我效能感和创新行为之间起多重中介作用。研究结果初步揭示了科技创新领域中创新动机、自我效能感和创新行为之间的动态关系。     

Self-Efficacy Relationships With Affective and Exertion Responses to Exercise1

This study examined the relationship of preexisting efficacy for exercise with perceptions of effort expenditure and in-task affect during exercise testing. Subjects comprised sedentary, middle-aged adults participating in a submaxi-mal cycle ergometer-graded exercise test. Perceptions of efficacy were assessed prior to and following exercise testing while perceptions of effort expenditure and in-task affect were assessed at 70% of predicted maxim heart rate. Highly efficacious subjects had lower perceptions of effort expenditure and reported more positive affect during exercise than did their less efficacious counterparts. Affective responses during exercise were in turn significant predictors of posttest self-efficacy. These results are discussed in regard to the importance of examining the role of personal efficacy in the formation of exercise-related affect and affective responses as sources of efficacy or competence information in exercise.     

Delineating the Structural Precursors and Cognitive Consequences of Personal Powerlessness: the Filipino Woman's Experience

Adopting a structural-cognitive perspective and path analysis, this study demonstrates that personal powerlessness generates sequelae of maladaptive cognitions, namely, low self-esteem, low success expectancies and a weak motivation for self-improvement. Despite adverse structural and natural forces, Bicolano women exhibited self-efficacy, high self-esteem, and strong propensity for self-improvement, albeit expressing low success expectancies. These constructive cognitions can be attributed to the women's strong achievement ethic, high educational attainment, and supportive kinship system. These factors also compensate for the depressive effects of low success expectancies on the motivation for self-improvement. Implications for empowerment strategies and cognitive literature are discussed.     

Sentiments d’efficacité personnelle et dynamique du projet professionnel

The present study explored the relations of emotional self-efficacy, career indecision and motivation in a sample of 200 French university students. Results from standard multiple regression analyses showed that emotional self-efficacy appeared the best predictor of intrinsic motivation toward education. The three dimensions of career indecision, as measured by CDDQ, do not revealed good predictors of intrinsic motivation. Concerning amotivation, inconsistent information (due to unreliable information, internal and external conflicts) is the best predictor of amotivation. Emotional self-efficacy also explains amotivation. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Relationship Between Academic Motivation and Mathematics Achievement Among Indian Adolescents in Canada and India

This study examined the relationships between academic motivation—intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amotivation—and mathematics achievement among 363 Indian adolescents in India and 355 Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation were not statistically significantly related to mathematics achievement among Indian adolescents in India. In contrast, both intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation were statistically significantly related to mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. While intrinsic motivation was a statistically significant positive predictor of mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada, extrinsic motivation was a statistically significant negative predictor of mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. Amotivation was not statistically significantly related to mathematics achievement among Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada. Implications of the findings for pedagogy and practice are discussed.     

Age differences in motivational orientation toward physical activity: an application of social-cognitive theory

According to social-cognitive theory, an individual's motivation to engage in physical activity is based on three postulates: self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and self-evaluated satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The purpose of the present study was to examine age, gender, level of education, and level of activity in relation to those postulates in 2,298 Australians aged between 18 and 78. The authors conducted regression analyses for self-efficacy and for outcome expectations as dependent variables; age, gender, education level, and level of physical activity served as independent variables. Chi-square analyses assessed differences in the health incentive to exercise, the perceived level of activity, and the perceived level of fitness. Results indicated significant age differences on all variables. The older individual felt lower self-efficacy in relation to physical activity and expected fewer benefits from participating in physical activity. However, older individuals who engaged in physical activity rated themselves as more active and fit than nonexercisers of their same age and gender. Physical activity and level of education were positively correlated with self-efficacy, and men were more efficacious than women were. The implications are that interventions aimed at increasing participation in physical activity should take into consideration differences in incentives.     

The effect of variety expectations on interest, enjoyment, and locus of causality in exercise

Most attempts to influence intrinsic motivation have focused on contextual support for basic need satisfaction, including the provision of autonomy support, structure, and interpersonal involvement (e.g., Edmunds et al. in Eur J Soc Psychol 38:375–388, 2008). This study explored the extent to which another factor, expectations for task variety, influenced interest, enjoyment, and locus of causality in a novel exercise setting. Results showed that participants exposed to messages about variety in an exercise class enjoyed the class more, found it more interesting, and perceived greater internal causality than those who received messages about similarity in the class. Moderator analyses indicated that expectations of task variety were particularly conducive for task interest among participants who usually demonstrated lower intrinsic motivation for exercise. Discussion focuses on the relevance of these findings to self-determination theory and on opportunities for future research.     

Contributions of Cognitions,Psychological Flexibility,and Therapeutic Alliance to Suicidal Ideation in Psychiatric Inpatients

Although suicide treatment is an expanding area of research, there is relatively less in the literature with respect to how specific vulnerabilities to suicide are addressed by treatment. Utilizing measures of suicide cognitions, therapeutic alliance, and psychological flexibility, we compared their relative contributions to suicidal ideation during and posttreatment among a group of adult psychiatric inpatients (N  = 434). Results revealed that cognitions contributed considerably more unique variance to suicidal ideation than alliance and flexibility at discharge and at 2 weeks postdischarge, and to change in suicidal ideation over the course of treatment. Psychological flexibility explained a small amount of variance at the 6‐month time point. Factor level analyses also were conducted, with the unsolvability factor within suicide cognitions accounting for the largest portion of variance at both discharge and 2 weeks postdischarge. Study limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.     

Examining Effects of Self-Efficacy on Research Motivation Among Chinese University Teachers: Moderation of Leader Support and Mediation of Goal Orientations

Utilizing the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) as the theoretical framework, this study proposed a moderated mediation model investigating the complex functioning mechanisms of how self-efficacy beliefs and leader support can be related to research motivation among Chinese university teachers. A group of 310 Chinese teachers working in different universities completed an online survey. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed distinct influencing paths from the predictor variables (i.e., self-efficacy and leader support) to the outcome variables (i.e., intrinsic and extrinsic research motivation). Specifically, self-efficacy beliefs predicted both mastery and performance goal orientations; mastery goal orientation, in turn, positively affected intrinsic and extrinsic research motivation. In contrast, leader support was non-significant for the both types of goal orientations, but exerted strong direct influences on the both types of research motivation. Bootstrapping methods in SEM showed that it was primarily the mastery goal orientation that mediated the relationships between self-efficacy beliefs and research motivation. Furthermore, the results from the SEM and simple slope analysis revealed that leader support moderated the association between self-efficacy and extrinsic research motivation.     

动机因素、学习策略、智力水平对学生学业成就的影响

以１１９名高中学生为被试,测量研究了动机因素、学习策略、智力水平对学生学业成就的影响。结果表明,自我效能、内在动机、掌握目标、学习策略、智商分数与学业成就呈显著的正相关,外在动机、业绩目标与学业成就呈显著的负相关。智商分数、学习策略、动机因素与学业成就存在着因果关系,智商分数（β＝０.４７６）、学习策略（β=０．２２０）、自我效能（β＝０.２０７）、掌握目标（β＝０．１８５）对学业成就有显著的回归效应,并直接影响学业成就。而内在动机（β＝０．１８４）通过直接影响学习策略而间接影响学业成就。     

Construction et validation de l'Échelle de motivation à avoir un enfant (EMAE)

This article presents the results of two studies designed to develop and validate the Motivation to have a Child Scale (MCS). According to self-determination theory (STD; Deci, Ryan, 1985, 1991, 2000), it is proposed that the MCS measures 5 types of motivation: intrinsic motivation, three forms of extrinsic motivation (identification, introjection and external regulation) and amotivation. Results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the five-factor structure of the scale. In addition, results reveal that the MCS subscales display satisfactory internal consistency values. Finally, the construct validity of the MCS is supported by a series of correlational analyses among the five subscales, as well as among these five subscales and some variables relevant to parenthood (e.g.: perceptions of parental autonomy and parental self-efficacy). In sum, the present results provide preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the MCS. A general discussion on the theoretical and methodological contributions of the scale toward motivation and parenthood domains is presented.     

A cross-cultural investigation of cognitions and depressive symptoms in adolescents

Adolescents (N=2,272) from Hong Kong and the United States provided information regarding their depressive symptoms, cognitions (self-efficacy, negative cognitive errors, and hopelessness), and stressful events between 2 surveys 6 months apart. Depressive symptoms and hopelessness were higher, and self-efficacy and negative cognitive errors were lower in Hong Kong than in the United States. Cognitions were associated with concurrent depressive symptoms and predicted depressive symptoms 6 months later in both cultures. The "reverse" model was also supported with more variance predicted by depressive symptoms to later cognitions than from cognitions to depressive symptoms. There was some support for the hypothesis that self-efficacy is less salient in collective compared with individualistic cultures. These findings extend cognitive theories of depression to a non-Western culture.     

Mediational role of academic motivation in the association between school self-concept and school achievement among Indian adolescents in Canada and India

The present study examined the mediational role of academic motivation in the association between school self-concept and school achievement among 355 Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada and 363 Indian adolescents in India. Surveys were administered among Grades 9?C12 students in Canada and India to assess their academic self-concepts, academic motivation, and academic achievement. Bootstrapped tests of simultaneous multiple indirect effects were conducted to determine the unique ability of each putative mediator??intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation??to account for the effect of school self-concept on overall school GPA for Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada and Indian adolescents in India. Mediational analyses revealed the mediational roles of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the association between school self-concept and school achievement for Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada, while intrinsic motivation solely mediated the relations between school self-concept and school achievement for Indian adolescents in India. Amotivation was not a significant mediator for both the Indian immigrant and Indian adolescents. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Perceptions of motivational climate and teachers' strategies to sustain discipline as predictors of intrinsic motivation in physical education

This study examined the relationship among pupils' perceptions of the motivational climate, pupils' perceptions of teachers' strategies to maintain discipline and pupils' intrinsic motivation in physical education. A sample of 2189 Spanish adolescents, ages 13 to 17 years, completed Spanish versions of the EPCM, SSDS, and IMI. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out to confirm the factorial validity of the scales. Then, the relationship among the variables was explored through Structural Equation Modelling. The most important predictors of pupils' intrinsic motivation were the perceived mastery climate, and perceived teachers' emphasis on intrinsic reasons to maintain discipline. Perceived performance climate and perceived teachers' strategies to maintain discipline based on introjected reasons and indifference, predicted pupils' tension-pressure. Results are discussed in the context of theoretical propositions of self-determination theory and practical issues of enhancing adolescents' motivation in physical education.     

Career self-efficacy, career outcome expectations and vocational interests among Japanese university students

The Social Cognitive Career Model proposes that career interests arise from beliefs about capability to execute a course of activity (self-efficacy), and beliefs about the consequences of performing particular activities (outcome expectations). In our study, 301 Japanese university students were given questionnaires including the Vocational Preference Inventory and scales assessing Career Self-efficacy and Career-outcome Expectations. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated both self-efficacy and outcome expectations were significantly related to vocational interests. Outcome expectations accounted for significant incremental variance in explaining interests across six of Holland's vocational environments. Implications of social cognitive theory for career development and interventions among Japanese university students are discussed.