Motivation and coping with the stress of assessment: Gender differences in outcomes for university students

The main objectives of the present research were to test a conceptual model linking motivational processes involved in coping with the stress of university assessment, and to examine gender differences in these processes. Self-determined motivation was hypothesized to predict coping strategies and the response to assessment-related stress, and coping was hypothesized to play a considerable role in short- and long-term outcomes of assessment. We examined this model using multiple group path analysis. In Study 1 (N = 265), music students’ use of engagement-coping strategies led to stronger musical career intentions, while disengagement-coping strategies led to weaker intentions. In Study 2 (N = 340), students’ increased use of engagement coping, and decreased use of disengagement coping strategies led to higher grades, higher positive affect and lower negative affect. In both studies, engagement and disengagement-coping were predicted by autonomous and controlled motivation, respectively. Motivation also indirectly predicted academic outcomes through stress appraisal and coping. While women experienced higher levels of stress, men were more negatively affected by the use of disengagement-oriented coping. Gender differences were also found on the links between engagement-oriented coping and outcomes. These results fill an important gap in the literature regarding gender differences in the outcomes coping in education, as well as contributing to a better understanding of the processes linking motivation, coping and academic outcomes

Perceived School Climate and School Grades in Secondary School Students: The Mediating Effect of Self-Determined Motivation

peer reviewedStudents’ perception of school climate plays an important role in the quality of their academic experience. However, the effects of perceived school climate on self-determined academic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000, 2020) have received little empirical attention to this day. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the role of school climate in predicting changes in self-determined academic motivation and grades in a longitudinal study with secondary school students. Participants are 957 Belgian students (girls = 52.87%; Mage = 14.41 years, SDage = 1.66 years) who took part in a three-wave, year-long study. Results from structural equation modeling showed that students’ positive perceptions of school climate at the beginning of the study (Time 1) were positively related to changes in self-determined academic motivation at the mid-point (Time 2), which in turn were positively associated with changes in grades by the end of the study (Time 3), over and above the effects of gender and age. These results have implications for educational psychology by suggesting that organizational aspects of the school setting can positively influence students’ academic grades through increases in the quality of their motivation over time

PsyCorona Codebook

As part of the PsyCorona initiative (https://psycorona.org/) we provide here the survey codebook as well as translations into 30 languages. The Pdf folder contains Pdfs of each wave in English. The excel sheet contains the translations into 30 languages