Self-efficacy, Motivation and Academic Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of the Number of Friends at University.

BACKGROUND: Academic satisfaction (AS) is a key marker of educational success at university. It is therefore extremely important to investigate any factors that may enhance AS. Drawing on social cognitive theory, Lent's model of life satisfaction, and self-determination theory, the present study examined the roles of academic self-efficacy (ASE) and type of motivation for attending university in AS, while controlling for sex and course year. More specifically, the study investigated whether friendships at university moderated the relationship between AS and ASE, and between AS and the various kinds of motivation for going to university. METHOD: A survey was completed by 431 Italian university students. Five moderation regression analyses were run. RESULTS: Having friends at university affected the relationship between amotivation and AS and between extrinsic motivation and AS: the more students were motivated or had low extrinsic motivation, the more satisfied they were, if they had a high number of friends at university. Conversely, if students lacked motivation or had high extrinsic motivation, they tended to be less satisfied, regardless of how many friends they had at university. CONCLUSIONS: A large number of friends at university maximizes and amplifies the effect of being self-determined on AS. We discuss the educational implications of these findings.

Children's performance in mental rotation tasks: orientation-free features flatten the slope.

Studies of the development of mental rotation have yielded conflicting results, apparently because different mental rotation tasks draw on different cognitive abilities. Children may compare two stimuli at different orientations without mental rotation if the stimuli contain orientation-free features. Two groups of children (78 6-year-olds and 92 8-year-olds) participated in an experiment investigating development of the ability to mentally rotate and the ability to recognize and use orientation-free features. Children compared two stimuli, one upright and one rotated, and responded as quickly as possible indicating whether the stimuli were the same or different. The stimuli were either two panda bears or two ice-cream cones with three scoops of ice-cream of different colors. The panda bears were either identical or mirror images. The cones were either identical, mirror images, or non-mirror images. Response times increased linearly as a function of the angle of orientation when stimuli were the same and when the stimuli were mirror images. But response times were much less dependent on angle of orientation for non-mirror image stimuli. Children as young as 6 years recognized orientation-free stimulus features and responded without mentally rotating when the task permitted this strategy.

Self-efficacy, Motivation and Academic Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of the Number of Friends at University / Autoeficacia, Motivación y Satisfacción Académica: el Rol Moderador del Número de Amigos en la Universidad

Background: Academic satisfaction (AS) is a key marker of educational success at university. It is therefore extremely important to investigate any factors that may enhance AS. Drawing on social cognitive theory, Lent’s model of life satisfaction, and self-determination theory, the present study examined the roles of academic self-efficacy (ASE) and type of motivation for attending university in AS, while controlling for sex and course year. More specifically, the study investigated whether friendships at university moderated the relationship between AS and ASE, and between AS and the various kinds of motivation for going to university. Method: A survey was completed by 431 Italian university students. Five moderation regression analyses were run. Results: Having friends at university affected the relationship between amotivation and AS and between extrinsic motivation and AS: the more students were motivated or had low extrinsic motivation, the more satisfied they were, if they had a high number of friends at university. Conversely, if students lacked motivation or had high extrinsic motivation, they tended to be less satisfied, regardless of how many friends they had at university. Conclusions: A large number of friends at university maximizes and amplifies the effect of being self-determined on AS. We discuss the educational implications of these findings.(AU)

Antecedentes: La satisfacción académica (SA) es un índice importante del éxito educativo en la universidad. Es importante estudiar qué factores mejoran la AS. Basándose en la teoría cognitiva social, el modelo de Lent y la teoría de la autodeterminación, el presente estudio tuvo como objetivo investigar el papel de la autoeficacia académica (ASE) y las motivaciones para asistir a la universidad en el AS, controlando por sexo y año de curso. Este estudio investigó el efecto moderador de las amistades en la universidad en la relación entre ASE y AS, y entre diferentes motivaciones y AS. Método: 431 estudiantes universitarios italianos completaron una encuesta. Se realizaron cinco análisis de regresión de moderación. Resultados: Tener amigos en la universidad condicionó la relación entre desmotivación y SA y entre motivación extrínseca y SA: cuanto más motivados están los estudiantes o tienen baja motivación extrínseca, más satisfechos están si tienen muchos amigos en la universidad; por el contrario, si los estudiantes están desmotivados o tienen una motivación extrínseca alta, están menos satisfechos independientemente del número de amigos en la universidad. Conclusiones: Un alto número de amigos en la universidad amplifica la importancia de ser autodeterminado en SA. Se discuten las implicaciones educativas.(AU)