A Self-Determination Theory Approach for Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on College Students' Motivation

• In Event: AERA Virtual Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Motivation in Education SIG Poster Session: Contextual Factors, Teacher Motivation, and Motivational Interventions

Abstract

College students’ retrospective reports commonly indicate loss of motivation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Self-Determination Theory, the present study provided a more nuanced examination of the pandemic’s motivational impacts by measuring actual change in six distinct types of motivation. We assessed motivation in two cohorts of students during their first and fourth years of college, with the fourth year beginning before the pandemic in one cohort (n = 218) but after the pandemic in the other (n = 290). Compared to the pre-pandemic cohort, the COVID cohort showed sharper declines in identified and intrinsic motivation but no differences in controlled motivation or amotivation. Motivational loss associated with the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be specific to autonomous motives.

Authors

• Jennifer Henderlong Corpus, Reed College

• Kristy A. Robinson, McGill University

• Zhaoying (Victoria) Liu