The growth trajectory of college students' academic amotivation and its association with cardiorespiratory fitness and meaning in life
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Department/School
Psychology
Publication Title
Learning and Individual Differences
Abstract
Academic amotivation stems from different classes of reasons in school. Using the amotivation taxonomy that comprises four types of motivational deficits (i.e., deficient ability beliefs, effort beliefs, academic values, and unappealing task characteristics), we designed this study to examine developmental patterns in academic amotivation among early-stage college students and how cardiorespiratory fitness and meaning in life related to the growth trajectories. 488 students reported amotivation at the beginning, middle, and end of a semester while their cardiorespiratory fitness and meaning in life were evaluated at the semester start. Multi-indicator latent growth models revealed that all types of motivational deficits increased over time. Insufficient academic values appeared to increase steeper than other amotivation dimensions while cardiorespiratory fitness buffered the enhancement of motivational deficits in ability and effort. Integration of a broad ecological framework including health may potentially enrich our theoretical understanding of academic amotivation.
Link to Published Version
Recommended Citation
Shen, B., Cui, G., & Bo, J. (2023). The growth trajectory of college students’ academic amotivation and its association with cardiorespiratory fitness and meaning in life. Learning and Individual Differences, 106, 102329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102329
Comments
J. Bo is a faculty member in EMU's Department of Psychology.