Brief Research Report: Motivational Regulation and Motivational Interference During Study and Leisure

Abstract

As adolescents pursue both academic and nonacademic goals, experiencing motivational interference between studying and leisure is universal and prevalent. Because motivational interference experiences occur not only in academic contexts but also in nonacademic contexts, we adopted a broad perspective encompassing both contexts to build a more holistic understanding of motivational processes. We focused on two common situations that students encounter in daily life between a school activity (i.e., studying) and a leisure activity (i.e., watching TV). Using cross-lagged panel analysis with two waves of data (N = 271), we revealed three noteworthy findings. First, students were likely to report experiencing motivational interference even after a year in both academic and nonacademic contexts. Second, within each time point, motivational regulation was negatively associated with motivational interference during studying but positively associated with motivational interference during leisure. Third, there was a negative reciprocal relationship between motivational interference during studying and motivational regulation. Although students with higher motivational interference during studying would benefit from using various motivational regulation strategies, they were less likely to do so in the following year. Additionally, students with lower motivational regulation skills were more likely to experience higher motivational interference during studying in the following year.