Mindset and perceived parental support of autonomy safeguard adolescents’ autonomous motivation during COVID-19 home-based learning

Ilona M.B. Benneker*, Nikki C. Lee, Nienke van Atteveldt

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

During school closures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, less support from peers and teachers may have required more autonomous motivation from adolescents. Little is known about factors that could shield against these negative effects. Driven by two influential motivational theories, we examined how mindset, feelings of school burnout and the three basic psychological needs of the self-determination theory, could predict changes in autonomous motivation when controlling for pre-pandemic levels of motivation. The results from a sample of Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.63 years) and their parents (Mage = 48.65 years) showed that endorsing a growth mindset was positively associated with autonomous motivation during the school closures, while feelings of school burnout were negatively associated with autonomous motivation. Additionally, perceived parental autonomy support (i.e. a measure of the basic psychological need of autonomy) related to more autonomous motivation during home-based learning. Our findings highlight the personal and family factors that influence how adolescents respond to home-based learning and suggest ways to keep adolescents motivated and diminish possible negative consequences during future home-based learning situations.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4
Pages (from-to)1-9
Number of pages9
JournalNPJ Science of learning
Volume8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work is part of the research programme ‘Promotiebeurs voor leraren’ with project number 023.011.066, which is (partly) financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This work is further supported by a European Research Council Starting Grant 716736 (BRAINBELIEFS).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

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