Nawa Norberto Eiji, Yamagishi Noriko
Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Room 2A2, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
Graduate School of Frontiers Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.
BMC Psychol. 2021 May 13;9(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s40359-021-00559-w.
Past studies have associated gratitude interventions with a host of positive outcomes. However, there is a dearth of research regarding the impact such interventions have on the academic motivation of university students, thought to be a primary determinant of academic achievement and overall satisfaction with school activities. Here, we examined the effects of a 2-week online gratitude journal intervention on the academic motivation of university students.
Eighty-four students were randomly assigned to either an active manipulation group (gratitude group) or a neutral control group. In the first 6 days of each week, participants in the gratitude group were asked to log in to the online system once a day and list up to five things they had felt grateful for. They were also requested to evaluate various aspects of their daily lives. Participants in the control group were only requested to perform the daily self-evaluations. Academic motivation was assessed using the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), which conceptualizes motivation in academic settings as being composed by three different components, i.e., intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and amotivation, the latter being associated with the perceived lack of contingency between actions and outcomes. Responses were collected 5 times: before group assignment (baseline), 1 week after the start of the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and at two follow-ups, 1 and 3 months after the intervention.
Analysis using a self-determination index derived from the AMS components showed that participants who regularly engaged with the gratitude journal task displayed significant enhancements in academic motivation. Additional analysis revealed that the enhancements were driven by decreases in the levels of amotivation. Furthermore, follow-up data showed that there were no signs that such enhancements had receded 3 months after the end of the intervention. Improvements in academic motivation were not observed among participants in the control group.
The current results provide evidence that gratitude interventions can positively impact the academic motivation of university students. More broadly, they show that the effects extend well beyond the realm of typically assessed measures of individual well-being, and can effectively regulate a fundamental component of goal-directed behavior such as motivation.
过去的研究表明感恩干预与一系列积极结果相关。然而，关于此类干预对大学生学业动机的影响，研究却很匮乏，而学业动机被认为是学业成绩和对学校活动总体满意度的主要决定因素。在此，我们研究了为期两周的在线感恩日记干预对大学生学业动机的影响。
84名学生被随机分为积极干预组（感恩组）或中性对照组。每周的前6天，感恩组的参与者被要求每天登录在线系统，列出多达五件他们感恩的事情。他们还被要求评估日常生活的各个方面。对照组的参与者只被要求进行每日自我评估。使用学业动机量表（AMS）评估学业动机，该量表将学术环境中的动机概念化为由三个不同成分组成，即内在动机、外在动机和无动机，后者与行动和结果之间缺乏偶然性的认知相关。在5个时间点收集回复：分组前（基线）、干预开始后1周、干预结束后立即以及干预后1个月和3个月的两次随访。
使用从AMS成分得出的自我决定指数进行分析表明，定期参与感恩日记任务的参与者在学业动机方面有显著提高。进一步分析表明，这种提高是由无动机水平的降低驱动的。此外，随访数据显示，干预结束3个月后，没有迹象表明这种提高有所消退。对照组的参与者未观察到学业动机的改善。
目前的结果提供了证据，表明感恩干预可以对大学生的学业动机产生积极影响。更广泛地说，它们表明这种影响远远超出了通常评估的个人幸福感指标范围，并且可以有效地调节目标导向行为的一个基本组成部分，如动机。
