Browsing by Author "Michou, Aikaterini"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Open Access
Coping and mindfulness: Mediators between need satisfaction and generalized problematic Internet use
(Hogrefe Publishing GmbH, 2019) Ataşalar, Jale; Michou, Aikaterini
Problematic Internet use (PIU) has been posited as the negative outcome of unmet psychological needs in real life. The present study, relying on the cognitive-behavioral model of PIU (Brand, Young, & Laier, 2014; Davis, 2001) and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), investigated the extent to which coping strategies in aversive situations and mindfulness during Internet use serve as mediating mechanisms in the relation between need satisfaction and generalized PIU (GPIU; dependency on multiple functions of the Internet). Path analysis on a sample of 165 Turkish early adolescents (Mage = 12.88, SD = .83; 49.1% females) found that need satisfaction was negatively related to PIU via low avoidant coping and high mindfulness in Internet engagement. The findings support the pathways from disadvantageous social context to GPIU suggested by Brand and colleagues’ (2014) model of GPIU and additionally show that next to avoidant coping, online mindfulness, an indicator of loss of cognitive control, can be a proximal correlate of GPIU. Interventions for adolescents’ harmonious Internet use could focus, among others, on adolescents’ need satisfaction, awareness of coping strategies, and development of online mindfulness.
Open Access
Different goals, different pathways to success: Performance-approach goals as direct and mastery-approach goals as indirect predictors of grades in mathematics
(Elsevier, 2018) Mouratidis, A.; Michou, Aikaterini; Demircioğlu, A. N.; Sayıl, M.
In this study, we aimed to investigate the different routes through which perceived goal structures, and in turn mastery-approach and performance-approach goals in mathematics, predict subsequent academic performance. Path analyses with a sample of Turkish adolescents (N = 369; 49.1% males; Mage = 16.67 years, SD = 1.85) revealed two distinct paths. After controlling for mid-year grades, we found perceived mastery goal structures to relate (positively) to mastery-approach goals, which in turn positively predicted end-year grades through challenge seeking. In contrast, perceived performance goal structures related positively to both performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals with the former directly predicting higher end-year grades, and the latter being related negatively to challenge seeking. These findings imply that there may exist different paths that can predict academic performance.
Open Access
It is autonomous, not controlled motivation that counts: Linear and curvilinear relations of autonomous and controlled motivation to school grades
(Elsevier, 2020-12-07) Mouratidis, Athanasios; Michou, Aikaterini; Sayil, M.; Altan, Servet
Can controlled motivation contribute to desired educational outcomes such as academic achievement over and above autonomous motivation? No, According to Self-Determination Theory. Yet, some recent findings have shown that controlled motivation may not fully undermine motivated behavior when autonomous motivation remains high. In this study, we tested this possibility through two different samples of more than 3000 Turkish adolescent students. Through polynomial regression and response surface analyses we found only slim evidence that high controlled motivation can predict higher grades. Instead, a consistent finding that emerged was that higher grades were expected when high levels of autonomous motivation coincided with low levels of controlled motivation rather than high levels of controlled motivation. These findings highlight the usefulness of polynomial regressions and response surface analyses to examine pertinent questions which challenge the view that controlled motivation may not be as much detrimental as self-determination theory claims to be.
Open Access
Need satisfaction as a mediator between classroom goal structures and students' optimal educational experience
(Elsevier, 2018) Alp, A.; Michou, Aikaterini; Çorlu, M. S.; Baray, G.
Goal-related messages in a classroom are associated with students’ experiences and functioning in learning. However, little is known about need satisfaction as a mediator that translates the classroom messages into students’ optimal educational experience. In the present studies, we investigated in a sample of 171 (in Study 1) and 255 (in Study 2) Turkish undergraduate students (60% females; Mage = 19.79, SD = 1.68 and 45% females, Mage = 19.75, SD = 1.67 respectively), the relation of classroom goal structures to students’ educational satisfaction (or vitality) and state flow through their experience of need satisfaction considering it as the psychological mediator. Path analysis with bootstrap showed that mastery goal structures (i.e., classroom environment focuses on learning and self-improvement) were positively related to need satisfaction while performance goal structures (i.e., classroom environment focuses on normative success) were either negatively related (Study 1) or unrelated (Study 2) to need satisfaction. Path analysis with bootstrap also showed that mastery goal structures were related to vitality, educational satisfaction and flow in class-related tasks through need satisfaction. Understanding need satisfaction as a mediator of classroom goal structures and optimal educational experience help teachers to reconsider their goal-related messages in the classroom.
Open Access
No aspect of structure should be left behind inrelation to student autonomous motivation
(John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2022) Mouratidis, Athanasios; Michou, Aikaterini
Background.Provision of structure in classroom settings constitutes one of the pillarsof conducive learning environments. However, little is known whether the particularelements of provided structure—namely, contingency, clear expectations, help andsupport, and monitoring—are equally important for student learning and motivation. Aims.In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate to what extent students’autonomous motivation is linearly and curvilinearly related to their perceptions of theirteachers’ contingency, clear expectations, help and support, and monitoring. Sample.Participants were 12,036Turkish adolescent students (age range: 15–19 years;54.4% males) from 446 classes, nested into 24 public schools. Methods.Cross-sectional, based on student ratings of their self-determined motivationand their teacher structure provision and autonomy support. Results.Multilevel and ordinary least-squares polynomial regression analyses showedall the four perceived structure elements to predict autonomous motivation, withexpectations and contingency (especially when coupled with monitoring) being evenmore important predictors than the other elements. Response surface analyses alsoshowed strong positive relation between autonomous motivation and all the possiblepairs of the four elements of perceived structure along the line of congruence, suggestingan additive effect when teachers are thought to be contingent and helpful and supportive(or monitor their students, or clearly communicate their expectations).Conclusions.These findings imply the key role that teachers could play in enhancingtheir students’ autonomous motivation by providing all the elements of structure.
Open Access
Procrastination, perceived maternal psychological control, and structure in math class: The intervening role of academic self-concept
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2021-04-15) Selçuk, Ş.; Koçak, A.; Mouratidis, Athanasios; Michou, Aikaterini; Sayıl, M.
Do students procrastinate less when their parents psychologically press them to study? Or do they show procrastination when classroom environment lacks structure? In this study, we aimed to investigate to what extent perceived maternal psychological control and perceived classroom structure in math class relate to adolescents' academic procrastination in math via adolescents’ academic self-concept in math. Three hundred fifty-three adolescents (M age = 16.86 years, SD = 1.35) rated maternal psychological control, structure provided by their math teachers, their own academic self-concept in math, and academic procrastination in math. Results from structural equation model indicated that procrastination in math was positively predicted by achievement-oriented psychological control and negatively by perceived provision of structure by means of academic self-concept in math. Based on the current findings, we provided some suggestions for school counselors and other specialists.
Open Access
Self-determined motivation and academic buoyancy as predictors of achievement in normative settings
(The British Psychological Society, 2020) Aydın, Görkem; Michou, Aikaterini
Background Academic buoyancy (Martin & Marsh, 2006, Oxford Review of Education, 35, 353; 2008, Journal of School Psychology, 46, 53) is students’ competence to respond effectively to academic daily setbacks and is considered an optimal characteristic of students’ functioning related to achievement. From the self‐determination theory perspective (Ryan & Deci, 2017, American Psychologist, 55, 68), satisfaction of the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and autonomous forms of motivation relate to students’ optimal functioning in schooling. Aims We investigated (1) whether students’ end‐of‐course (T2) academic buoyancy in the normative environment of English preparatory programmes (EPP) is predicted by their beginning‐of‐course (T1) need satisfaction or frustration and autonomous or controlled motivation (i.e., high or low self‐determined motivation), and (2) whether students’ T2 academic buoyancy mediates the relation between students’ T1 self‐determined motivation and final (T3) academic achievement. Sample In T1 and T2, 267 students (Mage = 19.11, SD = 1.28) attending three EPPs in Ankara, Turkey, participated in the study. Method A prospective design was used, data were collected through self‐reports, and SEM was conducted to test the hypotheses. Results Students’ T1 need frustration negatively predicted T1 autonomous motivation and positively predicted T1 controlled motivation, which (respectively) positively and negatively predicted T2 academic buoyancy. T1 need satisfaction related positively to T2 academic buoyancy. Finally, T2 academic buoyancy mediated the relation between students’ need satisfaction and final achievement while controlled motivation was also negatively related to final achievement. Conclusion Students’ high need satisfaction and low need frustration as well as high autonomous and low controlled motivation could support students’ buoyancy and achievement in the normative settings of EPP.
Open Access
Week-to-week interplay between teachers’ motivating style and students’ engagement
(Routledge, 2021-03-15) Michou, Aikaterini; Altan, Servet; Mouratidisa, Athanasios; Reeveb, J.; Malmbergc, L.
Research has shown that teachers’ autonomy support and provision of structure relate to students’ agentic and behavioral engagement. Moreover, agentic engagement elicits higher teacher autonomy support. In the present 5-week diary study, we investigated the dynamic nature of this interplay between teachers and students through their cross-assessment of students’ agentic and behavioral engagement. We also considered the week-to-week student-reported teacher autonomy support and provision of structure as well as two student personal characteristics — proactive personality and situational autonomous versus controlled motivation. Two hundred fifty-seven Turkish middle school students and their teachers from 13 classes participated in the study. Multilevel analyses showed that students’ week-to-week perceived autonomy support and initial level of autonomous motivation positively predicted week-to-week agentic engagement (teacher- and student-reported). Students’ week-to-week perceived structure positively predicted week-to-week agentic and behavioral engagement (student-, but not teacher-, reported). These findings indicate the interplay between students’ situational engagement and teachers’ situational motivating style (i.e., autonomy support and provision of structure). They also suggest greater predictive power for students’ situational motivation over the personal trait of proactive personality.