Autonomous motivation in learning activities with friends

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine relations between friendship and learning in terms of learning activities with friends, based on a model that assumed that autonomous motivation for learning and friendship influences satisfaction through some types of learning activities with friends. The list of learning activities with friends, developed on the basis of a preliminary survey, included help-seeking, help-giving, reciprocal learning, and opportunities to learn. Junior high school students (N = 430) completed a questionnaire. The results were as follows : (1) help-seeking was related to autonomous motivation for friendship and satisfaction with friendship ; (2) help-giving was associated with autonomous motivation for learning and satisfaction for learning ; (3) autonomous motivation for friendship was related to reciprocal learning, which, in turn, predicted satisfaction with both friendship and learning ; and (4) opportunity to learn was associated with autonomous motivation for learning, but had no relation to satisfaction.