Immigrant adolescent perceptions of parental and teacher autonomy: Effects on intrinsic motivation, engagement, and self-regulated learning
Abstract
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a contemporary macrotheory of human motivation which suggests that optimal human functioning, healthy development, and intrinsic motivation are based on the fulfillment of three psychological needs: competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The current dissertation focuses primarily on autonomy, which is considered to be a core construct of SDT. Research has largely established the benefits of parental and teacher autonomy support for students in Western cultures. However, there is to date little empirical research on the perceptions of autonomy support among adolescent immigrants. Thus, the overarching purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relation of parental and teacher autonomy support to the outcomes of intrinsic motivation, school engagement, and self-regulated learning among a sample of predominantly Carribbean immigrant students. The sample consisted of 250 immigrant adolescents from eight Catholic schools in the New York Metropolitan area. Participants completed the student assent form, and then filled out the demographic questionnaire, the Perceptions of Parents Scale (POPS), the Perceptions of Teacher Scale (POTS) the Academic-Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A), the Engagement vs. Disaffection with Learning Scale (EVDWLS) and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The effects of immigrant adolescent perceptions of parental and teacher autonomy support on intrinsic motivation, school engagement and self-regulated learning were examined using standard multiple regression analyses. None of the models were found to be statistically significant. However, immigrant adolescent mean-level perceptions of parental autonomy and teacher autonomy were found vary significantly from each other. Reliability analyses also indicated low internal consistency for the POPS and POTS scales. Exploratory factor analyses analysis also did not support a two-factor structure of the autonomy scales. Overall, results suggest that the measures of autonomy support were not valid for use with this immigrant population.
Subject Area
Multicultural Education|Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
Jean-Charles, Wismick, "Immigrant adolescent perceptions of parental and teacher autonomy: Effects on intrinsic motivation, engagement, and self-regulated learning" (2012). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3519005.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3519005
