engleski

Validation of the Multidimensional School Motivation Scale

Measuring students’ motivation for school is key for understanding their academic and career outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the validity of the Multidimensional School Motivation Scale, which was adapted from the Multidimensional Work Motivational Scale (Gagne et al., 2014). The scale differentiates between six types of motivation defined by the Self-Determination Theory. Data was collected as a part of wider pilot study conducted within the research project Free Career Choice financed by the Croatian Science Foundation. The sample consisted of 404 primary school students attending grades 5 to 7 (age 11 to 13, 49% girls) and 430 secondary school students attending grades 1 to 3 (age 15 to 17, 73% girls). The data was collected using group administration of computerized questionnaire in both online and onsite setting. Apart from students’ motivation for school, the study gathered data about students’ overall school achievement and school achievement in main subjects, as well as data on students’ autonomous functioning. The analyses indicated structural validity of the scale for both elementary and secondary school sample, with minor divergence from the expected structure. The subscales demonstrated high internal reliability (with alphas in range from 0.75 to 0.89 and 0.66 to 0.86 in the primary and the secondary school samples, respectively). Furthermore, different types of motivation that were measured showed expected and logical associations with school achievement and autonomous functioning of the students. Therefore, empirical data confirms that the Multidimensional School Motivation Scale is a well-constructed and appropriate measure to use in early and middle adolescents’ samples in Croatia.

School Motivation ; Academic outcomes ; Career outcomes ; Structural validity

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