Zaccoletti Sonia, Camacho Ana, Correia Nadine, Aguiar Cecília, Mason Lucia, Alves Rui A, Daniel João R
Department of Developmental and Socialization Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Front Psychol. 2020 Dec 18;11:592670. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.592670. eCollection 2020.
The COVID-19 outbreak has ravaged all societal domains, including education. Home confinement, school closures, and distance learning impacted students, teachers, and parents' lives worldwide. In this study, we aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19-related restrictions on Italian and Portuguese students' academic motivation as well as investigate the possible buffering role of extracurricular activities. Following a retrospective pretest-posttest design, 567 parents ( = 173, = 394) reported on their children's academic motivation and participation in extracurricular activities (grades 1 to 9). We used a multi-group latent change score model to compare Italian and Portuguese students': (1) pre-COVID mean motivation scores; (2) rate of change in motivation; (3) individual variation in the rate of change in motivation; and (4) dependence of the rate of change on initial motivation scores. Estimates of latent change score models showed a decrease in students' motivation both in Italy and in Portugal, although more pronounced in Italian students. Results also indicated that the decrease in students' participation in extracurricular activities was associated with changes in academic motivation (i.e., students with a lower decrease in participation in extracurricular activities had also a lower decrease in motivation). Furthermore, students' age was significantly associated with changes in motivation (i.e., older students had lower decrease). No significant associations were found for students' gender nor for parents' education. This study provides an important contribution to the study of students' academic motivation during home confinement, school closures, and distance learning as restrictive measures adopted to contain a worldwide health emergency. We contend that teachers need to adopt motivation-enhancing practices as means to prevent the decline in academic motivation during exceptional situations.
新冠疫情的爆发肆虐了包括教育在内的所有社会领域。居家隔离、学校关闭和远程学习影响了全球范围内的学生、教师和家长的生活。在本研究中，我们旨在考察与新冠疫情相关的限制措施对意大利和葡萄牙学生学业动机的影响，并探究课外活动可能起到的缓冲作用。采用回顾性前测-后测设计，5**67名家长（意大利173名，葡萄牙394名）报告了他们孩子的学业动机以及参与课外活动的情况（1至9年级）。我们使用多组潜在变化分数模型来比较意大利和葡萄牙学生：（1）新冠疫情前的平均动机分数；（2）动机变化率；（3）动机变化率的个体差异；以及（4）动机变化率对初始动机分数的依赖性。潜在变化分数模型的估计结果显示，意大利和葡萄牙学生的动机均有所下降，不过在意大利学生中更为明显。结果还表明，学生参与课外活动的减少与学业动机的变化有关（即课外活动参与度下降较少的学生，其动机下降也较少）。此外，学生的年龄与动机变化显著相关（即年龄较大的学生下降幅度较小）。未发现学生性别和家长教育程度存在显著关联。本研究为居家隔离、学校关闭和远程学习期间学生学业动机的研究做出了重要贡献，这些措施是为应对全球卫生紧急情况而采取的限制措施。我们认为，教师需要采用增强动机的做法，以防止特殊情况下学业动机的下降。
