Distinct Roles of Autonomy Satisfaction and Frustration in Predicting High School Students' Engagement and Achievement (Poster 41)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Fifteen
  In Poster Session: Cognitive and Motivational Processes: Poster Session Five

Abstract

We examined whether autonomy satisfaction and frustration could be empirically distinguished and had different predictive relationships with students’ academic engagement and achievement in math and English. Results based on a group of 3142 Chinese adolescent students revealed that autonomy satisfaction and frustration were two distinguishable constructs and demonstrated distinct predictive utility. In specific, autonomy satisfaction significantly predicted emotional engagement, which in turn leads to higher achievement. Autonomy satisfaction also significantly predicted behavioral engagement. In contrast, autonomy frustration positively predicted disengagement while negatively predicted emotional and behavioral engagement, which subsequently undermined achievement. Furthermore, these patterns were highly consistent across two subject domains. Findings of the present study highlight the importance of differentiating autonomy satisfaction and frustration when predicting students’ educational outcomes.

Authors

• YuQing Xu, East China Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Yi Jiang, East China Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author