Unga vuxna är en viktig målgrupp att uppmana till att anta en miljövänlig livsstil, då stadiet mellan tonår och vuxenliv präglas av förändring och utveckling av livsstil och vanor. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka unga vuxnas vanor gällande miljöbeteende och vilken typ av motivation de har för att handla miljövänligt. Genom en enkätundersökning som inkluderar 294 svar har denna studie funnit att unga vuxna är motiverade till att vara miljövänliga. Studien visar att identified regulation är den mest dominanta typen av reglering till miljöbeteende. De huvudsakliga barriärerna mot ökat engagemang kan härledas till de tre grundläggande psykologiska behoven autonomi, kompetens och tillhörighet. Nyckelord: motivation, miljöbeteende, unga vuxna, SDT, miljö / Individuals experience a fundamental change upon becoming adults. They develop lifestyles and habits that they will carry with them throughout the rest of their life. Therefore urging this group to adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle is vital. The purpose of this study is to identify environmental habits and motivation for pro-environmental behaviour among emerging adults in Sweden. Through a questionnaire survey including 294 responses, the study has found that emerging adults are motivated to engage in environmental activities with identified regulation as the predominant type of regulation. The main barriers for further engagement are the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness.Keywords: motivation, pro-environmental behaviour, emerging adults, SDT, environment

Along many dimensions, homeschooling is increasing, diversifying, and spreading globally. Yet little is known about the motivational climates and teaching strategies parents have adopted to promote academic achievement and motivation within their homes. Working within a self-determination theory (SDT) framework, this study used cluster analysis to examine the naturally-occurring types of learning environments created by 457 homeschool parents. Measures of support for autonomy, mastery goal orientation, and conditional regard were adapted for a homeschool context and used as constituting variables. Follow-up measures of need satisfaction, efficacy, student academic engagement, teaching practices and demographics were used to identify significant differences among groups. A five cluster solution best fit the data: a high need support group, low need support group and three groups of mixed need support. In general, the high need and mixed need support groups were associated with higher student engagement, need satisfaction, efficacy for homeschooling and frequent use of teaching strategies that promote autonomous motivation and support for student competence. The low need support group was significantly associated with lower need satisfaction and teaching strategies associated with control. Higher levels of academic engagement were reported for those students homeschooled longer and at higher grade levels. Male teaching parents (n = 29) reported significantly less need satisfaction and were significantly associated with the low need support group. Taken together, the findings extend self-determination theory to an important, emerging learning context. Results were consistent with findings in SDT research across other domains; thus, lending support to the universality of SDT's main tenets. / Educational Psychology

A patient's response to receiving a diagnosis of a chronic progressive disease is critical, as is the approach to the intervention that the patient receives. Parkinson's disease (PD) exemplifies chronic disease with the additional complication of being progressively degenerative and therefore increasingly debilitating. Many of the patients with PD suffer from a decrease in motivation. While physical therapy and individual independent exercise may benefit these patients with PD, the lack of motivation to exercise often presents a significant barrier to this beneficial behavior. Self-determination Theory (SDT) has been used successfully in other health paradigms to improve motivation. Motivation is achieved by satisfying the three psychological needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness of the individual. Physical therapy intervention may facilitate motivation through the development of relatedness to the health care professional (HCP). The purpose of this study was to determine if SDT may be effectively applied to increase motivation in patients with PD, determine the factors that facilitate the motivation, and quantify the effect on the patient's quality of life. This study utilized a within subject design consisting of 8 weekly sessions. At screening, demographics and baseline assessments for cognitive impairment (SLUMS), severity of PD ( Hoehn and Yahr), quality of life (PDQ-8 a questionnaire validated for the PD patient), and evaluation of physical impairments (Tinetti gait and balance test and Timed Up and Go Test[TUG]) were collected. Each weekly session included motivational interviewing designed to implement SDT strategies promoting satisfaction of the three psychological needs. Additionally, at each weekly physical therapy session, additional physical assessments were completed as well as the SRQ-E, a Likert scale SDT questionnaire designed to determine the motivation to exercise (extrinsic regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation and intrinsic motivation.). Ten patients were consented and enrolled in this study at a physician-owned clinic in the Philadelphia suburbs. All patients completed the 8-week study, with 6 of the patients opting to continue in physical therapy after the study. At baseline, patients exhibited mild to moderate impairment in physical activity as assessed by the Hoehn and Yahr average score of 2.9 (range 1-4). The average age of the patient was 68.4 (range 50-84) years with an average SLUMS score of 26.3 (range 20-30), indicating mild cognitive impairment. The data from the SRQ-E did not demonstrate significance for change in motivation. Both the Tinetti gait and balance test and the TUG average scores improved, with a change of 4.9, 1.8, and 7.1, respectively. The PDQ-8 average change improved 0.118, indicating improvement in the quality of life. Results from both the Tinetti and PDQ-8 demonstrated improvements that were statistically significant (p=.0007 and p=.008 respectively). Qualitative analysis of the motivational interviews showed the most common themes as a decrease in pain, increase in strength and function as well as independently initiating a novel exercise. Correlative analysis was inconclusive. While motivational interviewing is qualitative, a positive effect was indirectly assessed by the patient's self-reports of increased exercise and the development of relatedness to the HCP as evidenced by the patient's 100% completion rate of the study and 60% continuation on physical therapy. Further study is warranted to determine the factors that facilitated this improvement and evaluate the benefit of motivation in these patients with Parkinson's disease. / Educational Psychology

Though under-analyzed, third-party employee competency certifications are increasing in number; many feel that accumulation of certifications is essential for career success. I argue that in their current form, certifications are double-edged: their purpose is to reduce transaction costs, enhance performance, and foster development; but they can also be used as 'credentials' to gain prestige, rewards or influence. I suggest that excessive use for this latter purpose can undermine their contribution to performance. In this study of HR practitioners that draws on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), I test the relationship between certification-seeking motivation and obtaining certification, perceived job competence, and affective occupational commitment. Hierarchical regression results show an association between autonomous motivation and both obtaining certification and commitment; however, professional association membership may also play a role in fostering such motivation. I end with suggestions for future research. / Business Administration

The current study investigated the motivation of college students with disabilities to disclose their disability(s) to the university and to utilize disability support services. Eleven college students with a diversity of invisible disabilities from a large university were interviewed using a narrative approach. Analysis involved a combination of inductive and deductive procedures informed by Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2002; Deci & Ryan, 2000). The analysis identified six themes in the narratives within which students' experiences were analyzed as more or less supportive of their psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness: (1) Disability Construction; (2) High School Experience; (3) Significant Adults; (4) Disability Resources and Services (DRS) and other Services; (5) Interactions with Faculty; and (6) Interactions with Peers. An important conclusion of the analysis was that students' motivation and decision to disclose their disability and to utilize support services was framed by the level of acceptance of their disability--or, in self-determination theory terms, their integration of their disability to their authentic self. Students' narratives that suggested integration of the disability to the self also included indication of the students being more proactive, agentic, flexible, adaptive, and open in disclosing their disability to the university, to faculty and to peers, and in utilizing support services. In contrast, students' narratives that suggested partial or non-integration of the disability, and ambivalence towards being labeled with a disability, also included indication for hesitance, rigidity, and less adaptive patterns of disclosure and utilization of services. Different levels of integration of the disability in students' narratives were concordant with indication in the narratives of different levels of support for the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness--particularly by significant adults at home and in high-school. These general psychological-motivational patterns manifested in the narratives as individual profiles that integrated the six themes into the unique narrative of each participant. The study ends with consideration of the implications of the findings to future research and possible ways by which university disability support services may promote effective utilization of services by students with disabilities. / Educational Psychology

The notion of learner autonomy is one of the major theoretical constructs studied in L2 learning. Drawing on Deci and Ryan's (1985) Self-Determination Theory (SDT), I sought to investigate and describe L2 learner autonomy and how an educational intervention influences it. The SDT conceptualizing human motivation for learning as existing on a continuum from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation provides ways of measuring learner autonomy and a rationale for educational interventions for developing it. First, Japanese adult EFL learners' characteristics were described in terms of learner autonomy-related psychological constructs (motivation, affect, and strategy use) according to levels of learner autonomy based on SDT. Second, the adapted VSS yielded significant effects on the participants' vocabulary learning and L2 learning anxiety (for the high and low autonomous motivation groups) and social strategy use (for the low autonomous motivation group). Third, the implementation of the adapted VSS into the adult L2 English classes was considered in terms of the development of linguistic and autonomous forms of learning quoting from the participants' quantitative and qualitative responses for this approach. / CITE/Language Arts

The relationship between video games and learning is a topic of interest for academic fields. But how can a voluntary activity, like playing video games, motivate students to be academically productive? This dissertation used the popular video game, Minecraft, to measure the intrinsic motivation of 7th and 8th grade students in mathematics class, using a Self-Determination Theory (SDT) framework. The results demonstrated that intrinsic motivation remained at high levels, as long as students are competent in game controls and were relatively free to do what they wanted within the general guidelines in the video game environment. Second, the role of social presence contributed to immersion in the video game environment and played a role in the continued motivation to play. Third, although there was no impact on rote measures of learning, such as memorizing vocabulary definitions, the Minecraft video game environment affected students’ ability to problem solve, as was evidenced by pre- and post-tests of rote and conceptual learning. / Media & Communication

This study examines the experiences of teachers being motivated to do more for their students. While the lives and practices of teachers have received significant scholarly attention, to this point the extant literature on teacher motivation and expanded roles is limited. In response to that gap, this study uses a phenomenological design with semi-structure interviews and observations of classrooms to examine the motivations that inspire teachers to go beyond their prescribed roles in service of their students. Additional lines of inquiry examined how these motivations to embody expanded roles for students evolve from pre-service to actual classroom experience. The study also investigated teacher-reported possibilities and limitations of doing more in service of students. Self Determination Theory of Motivation was used as the theoretical framework to guide the methodological design of the study. Results from the study illuminate a symbiotic relationship in which teachers engage in role expansion in order to both meet the needs of their students as well as to have their basic psychological needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy satisfied. Implications for further research highlight the need to understand how to support and sustain these practices as a mechanism to combat burnout and teacher attrition. / Urban Education

Over the last 40 years, the field of sport psychology has generated a growing body of literature on the coach-athlete relationship, driven by the recognition that the quality of this dyad can play an important role in an athlete's experiences in sport. Despite strong evidence suggesting that Self-Determination Theory (SDT) accurately reflects processes within this relationship, which promote or undermine intrinsic motivation, there is room to deepen contemporary understandings of coach-athlete dyads by assessing the role of athlete individual differences within this theory. Sixty-seven male athletes (ages 12-18) and 3 male coaches participated in the current study, which set out to cultivate a more nuanced understanding of coach-athlete relationships in a high-level youth athletic academy. Questionnaires measuring preferences for, and perceptions of, coaching behavior, psychological coping skills, psychological needs satisfaction, motivation, and burnout were administered at the beginning and end of the fall season. Results gleaned from correlations, multiple regressions and mediational analyses variably supported the study's main hypotheses. Processes consistent with SDT were evident, as a dimension of perceived coaching behavior predicted needs satisfaction, which in turn, predicted levels of motivation and burnout. Finally, and most importantly, results showed that athletes' psychological coping skills predicted their perceptions of coaching behavior, and outcomes related to needs satisfaction, motivation, and burnout. The current paper also discusses implications of these findings for research and applied practice in sport psychology, and provides recommendations for future avenues of study. / Kinesiology

Women make up only 7% of the incarcerated population (Guerino, Harrison, & Sabol, 2012). However, this number is rising exponentially. The female prison population has increased eight-fold since 1980 (Carson & Gionelli, 2013). Up to 70% of women who are incarcerated will recidivate (Mallik-Kane & Vischer, 2008). A major contributor to this rapid increase and high rate of recidivism is that women's physical and mental health needs are not met while they are incarcerated. Creating gender sensitive programming that addresses women's physical and mental health needs while they are incarcerated and that can influence their lives after they leave could help decrease recidivism and increase the quality of life of thousands (Bloom, Owen, & Covington, 2003). While structured exercise programs are being offered with more frequency in women's prisons to help address these mental and physical health problems, attendance has been low and program staff struggle to retain participants. This research examined women's motivation to exercise, what they felt were benefits of engaging in physical activity, and what they perceived the barriers to physical activity are while incarcerated. The study was conducted in conjunction with an indoor cycling class being offered at the Philadelphia County Women's prison. Twenty-four women enrolled in the study and completed pre-program interviews and pencil and paper measures. Twelve women completed a follow up test; six graduated from the cycling program; six dropped out. Results show that women who build connections (relatedness) with instructors and peers are more likely to adhere to a structured exercise program, and that the basic psychological needs laid out by Self-Determination Theory are related to adherence. Additionally, women can internalize a range of reasons for and benefits of exercise that can help them overcome a range of institutional, individual, and environment barriers evident in a correctional setting. / Kinesiology