Towards studying students’ autonomy-regulation strategies as a specific part of their motivation regulation

Abstract

Students regularly struggle with motivation and, consequently, cannot reach their full academic potential. Intrinsic and identified motivation are most advantageous for academic outcomes and can be fostered through autonomy support. However, often, students cannot rely on support from others. In those situations, students might use autonomy-regulation strategies themselves. We investigated whether five autonomy-regulation strategies (creating choices, recognizing one's own perspective, using invitational self-talk, acknowledging one's own feelings, and displaying patience towards oneself) can be differentiated from established motivation-regulation strategies, like mastery self-talk. Moreover, we investigated the associations between autonomy-regulation strategies and distinct motivational qualities. In two samples with university students (N1 = 221; N2 = 155), bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling confirmed empirical distinguishability. Next to general motivation regulation, creating choices, enhancing personal significance, and mastery self-talk were positively associated with identified and intrinsic motivation, controlling for all other strategies. Mastery self-talk showed the most robust associations with academic outcomes. Educational relevance statement: Supporting students' autonomy (e.g., enhancing ownership) has been shown to be effective for motivation and academic outcomes. However, university students often have to motivate themselves and regulate their own feelings of autonomy. The results of the present study showed that university students endorse the use of autonomy-regulation strategies as a unique part of motivation regulation. In addition to mastery self-talk, all autonomy-regulation strategies contributed strongly to a general tendency to self-regulate one's own motivation, which was positively associated with intrinsic motivation and academic effort but negatively associated with amotivation and dropout intentions. Our research implies that it is important to consider students' distinct autonomy-regulation and motivation-regulation strategies in addition to the general tendency to self-regulate motivation when studying how students can optimally enhance their motivation and engagement needed for reaching their full academic potential.