Motivations of Traditional and Nontraditional College Students: From Self-Determination and Attributions, to Expectancy and Values

Abstract

We surveyed 139 (88 traditional, 51 nontraditional) students on various motivational measures of self-determination, attribution, and expectancy-value to (a) investigate motivational differences by student status and (b) identify the motivational variables that best predict academic achievement by student status. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that nontraditional students report significantly higher levels of interest and teacher influence, just to name two. Results of two stepwise regression analyses suggest that ability-attribution and cost-value variables predict traditional students’ academic achievement, and self-efficacy and peer-personal support variables predict nontraditional students’ academic achievement. Implications are further discussed, along with avenues for future research.