Anxiety and Social Support as Predictors of Student Academic Motivation During the COVID-19.

Ana Camacho,Sonia Zaccoletti,João R Daniel,Nadine Correia

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.644338

Abstract

In this study we examined whether parents’ perceptions of students’ anxiety as well as perceived support from both teachers and classmates were predictive of changes in students’ academic motivation during the first wave of COVID-19. To this end, we used a retrospective pretest-posttest design together with a latent change score model to analyze our data. From April to May of 2020, 394 Portuguese parents of students in grades 1–9 participated in this study. Our results showed that students’ anxiety and teachers’ social support, as perceived by parents, were highly significant predictors of academic motivation changes. Specifically, we found a negative effect of anxiety and a positive effect of teachers’ social support on students’ academic motivation. Our results did not show, however, a significant predictive role of classmates’ social support. This study provides an important contribution to further understand the intrapersonal and interpersonal factors that are associated with the decline of students’ academic motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pivotal role of teachers in sustaining students’ academic motivation and other relevant educational implications for the ongoing pandemic are discussed.

Highlights

The disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have profoundly impacted all sectors of society, including education
We aimed to examine the predictive role of anxiety and social support, from teachers and classmates, in the changes of Portuguese students’ academic motivation, as perceived by parents
latent change score model (LCSM) are a class of Structural Equation Models (SEM) that allow testing a wide range of hypotheses about a psychological variable of interest, measured at two time points

Summary

Introduction

The disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have profoundly impacted all sectors of society, including education. School closures, and a sudden shift to remote learning imposed substantial changes to teachers, students, and their families’ daily lives. Teachers had to switch from traditional face-to-face classes to alternative forms of distance education, embracing new methods, and ensuring close support for students and their parents. On top of facing a global health emergency that generates fear and anxiety, students shifted to online learning, which required quick adjustments and affected their daily habits, experiences, and expectations. These changes may have required more self-motivation to learn, in a situation characterized by potential less direct support from teachers and classmates (Aucejo et al, 2020)

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