Article summary with Intrinsic and extrinsic school motivation as a function of age: the mediating role of autonomy support by Gillet a.o. - 2021

Intrinsic motivation is thought to play an important role in school performance and enjoyment, while extrinsic motivation seems to have a more negative effect on these factors. Studies have shown that intrinsic motivation systematically decreases over the years (between 8 and 14 years of age). The measurement used in these researches was usually the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Orientation Scale, that placed intrinsic en extrinsic motivation at opposite ends of a 4-point scale. A consequence of the use of this scale was that it could not be said whether there was truly a decrease in intrinsic motivation, or whether there was an increase in extrinsic motivation. More recent studies therefore used different measurements, placing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on two separate motivation scales. These studies also found a systematically decrease of intrinsic motivation over the years. Only a few studies looked into the course of extrinsic motivation. These studies indicate that intrinsic motivation also decreasing with age, however not in the systematic manner that was found in studies on intrinsic motivation.

Recently, studies have tried to start discovering the nature of the processes responsible for changes in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Results of one study indicated for example that social desirability is not responsible for the age effects on motivation. Another factor that could mediate the age effect on school motivation is the prevalent social context in the educational domain. An important social factor deals with autonomy support, where parents and teachers take the perspective of the child and provide opportunities and participation in decision making, while the effect of pressure is minimal. Research has shown that this fosters intrinsic motivation and decreases non self-determined extrinsic motivation. It might be that with age, students expect to have more autonomy or say in their schooling. However, usually autonomic supports decreases in school over the years, forming a possible explanation for loss of intrinsic motivation.

The study

The first goal of this study was to assess intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and amotivation toward school of children aged 9-17. A decrease was expected for the ages 9-15, but it was also thought that there would be a slight increase in children aged 16-17, compared to 14-15 year old students. The same results were expected for self-determined extrinsic motivation. For non self-determined extrinsic motivation, a negative linear trend was expected. Amotivation was expected to be low and stable across the different age groups. The goals was to test the role of teacher and parental autonomy support as a potential mediator of the age effect of school motivation. It was hypothesized that means in autonomy support as a function of age would show the same trend as intrinsic and self-determined extrinsic motivation. The final goal was to assess the relative contribution of teacher and both parents as mediators of the age-school motivation relationship. It was expected that teacher support would have a stronger relation with motivation compared to mothers’ autonomy support, which in turn would have a stronger relationship to motivation compared to fathers’ autonomy support.

Participants were 1606 students aged 9-17 from different school in Quebec, Canada. Students filled out questionnaires on school motivation (a scale with four reasons (intrinsic, self-determined extrinsic, non self-determined extrinsic and amotivational) of why students apply in different types of school activities) and perceived autonomy support toward school activities.

Results

Intrinsic motivation and self-determined motivation follow similar patterns as a function of age: they decrease until the age of 15, and increase after that point. A possible explanation for this effect is that older students have the opportunity to select their classes themselves that are in line with their interests and future college orientation. This increase in autonomy might cause the found increase in intrinsic motivation after the age of 15. Non self-determined motivation showed a decrease until the age of 12, and stayed relatively stable after this point. However, it remains systematically higher than intrinsic motivation. No trends were found for amotivation.

Furthermore, age was found to have a negative linear relation to teacher and parental autonomy support. Thus, with age, teachers and parents are perceived by children as providing less autonomy support. It is not clear what changes this perception. However, teacher anatomy acted as a mediator on the relationship between linear age and intrinsic motivation. But because it showed that age has a direct link to the levels of intrinsic motivation, it is very well possible that other factor also play a role in the decrease of intrinsic motivation as a function of age.

Because intrinsic motivation is so closely linked to positive educational outcomes, the found decrease of intrinsic motivation with age isn’t good news. Non self-determined motivation and amotivation are the most important predictors of negative educational outcomes. Prevention of these effects should be the focus of future research.