Passion or Perseverance? The Effect of Perceived Autonomy Support and Grit on Academic Performance in College Students

Elisa Huéscar Hernández, Juan Antonio Moreno-Murcia, Luís Cid, Diogo Monteiro and Filipe Rodrigues
Additional contact information
Elisa Huéscar Hernández: Psicología de la Salud Department, Edificio Altamira, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Avda. Universidad, s/n, 30202 Elche, Alicante, Spain
Juan Antonio Moreno-Murcia: Sport Research Center, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n, 03130 Elche, Alicante, Spain
Luís Cid: Sport Science School of Rio Maior (ESDRM—IPSantarém), Av. Dr. Mário Soares n-110, 2040-413 Rio Maior, Portugal
Diogo Monteiro: Sport Science School of Rio Maior (ESDRM—IPSantarém), Av. Dr. Mário Soares n-110, 2040-413 Rio Maior, Portugal
Filipe Rodrigues: Sport Science School of Rio Maior (ESDRM—IPSantarém), Av. Dr. Mário Soares n-110, 2040-413 Rio Maior, Portugal

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: Background: Individuals who possess passion and perseverance to extensively work and study through challenges and adversity to achieve a set of goals are likely to reach higher achievement compared to others who lack similar facets. However, an under-researched question lingers over the effect of teacher-induced behaviors on academic outcomes such as grades and performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between teacher-induced autonomy support and student academic performance considering the mediating effect of basic psychological needs satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and grit as two-independent factors. Methods: A convenience sample of 474 Sports Science students ( M age = 21.83 years; SD = 3.91) participated in the study. All participants completed a multi-section survey assessing the variables under analysis. Results: The measurement and structural model displayed acceptable fit, hence direct and indirect effects were examined among the variables of interest. Basic psychological needs and intrinsic motivation seem to display a mediating role between perceived autonomy support and academic performance, through perseverance. Contrarily, grit-passion did not exhibit a significant indirect effect. Conclusions: Current results shed new insights on how perseverance can shape student motivation and school success considering the autonomy support induced by teachers.

Keywords: teachers’ motivational styles; grit; self-determination theory; autonomy support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/6/2143/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/6/2143/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:6:p:2143-:d:336160

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().