Motivation to learn in middle school and association with individual and contextual aspects

Abstract

Purpose: To verify the association between motivation to learn, quality of life, health self-perception, and environmental, school and behavioral resources of students in a private middle school. Methods: This is an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study conducted with 124 adolescents using the following instruments: Participant Characterization, Learning Motivation Scale (LMS), Self-perceived Health Questionnaire, Strengths and Diffculties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Pediatric Quality of Life InventoryTM (PedsQL) (Self-report) - conducted with the students, and Brazilian Criteria of Economic Classifcation Questionnaire, PedsQL (Parent Proxy-report) and Home Environment Resources Scale (HERS) - responded by the parents and/or legal guardians. School performance was assessed by the average scores of students in the period investigated. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the association between response and explanatory variables. Results: The study sample was composed mostly of socioeconomic class A female students who evaluated their health as good or excellent. The Learning Goal domain of the LMS presented higher average results compared with those of the other domains. Most students performed well or very well in the PedsQL and presented positive self-ratings in the three dimensions (physical, emotional and social functioning) of this instrument. Motivation to learn was associated with the quality of life, learning strengths, and self-perceived health of adolescents. Conclusion: Considering the peculiarity of adolescence and the complexity of the learning process and its consequences, parents and educators play a fundamental role in learning motivation.