Motivation and Stress Levels in University Life

The study reveals that intrinsic motivation leads to lower perceived stress but is not indicative of better psychological tuning or higher overall well-being. Amotivation is associated with higher stress levels and weaker adjustment to university life, supporting previous studies on the link between amotivation and lower perception of competence, attentiveness, and self-esteem.

The present study reveals that intrinsically motivated studying leads to lower scores for
perceived stress though it is not indicative of better psychological tuning to university life or,
higher orders of noticeable well being. Amotivation has been found to be associated with
higher stress levels, weaker psychological adjustment to university life, in sync with
previous studies that have established link between amotivation and lower perception of
competence, lower attentiveness (Vallerand et al., 1989) and low self-esteem (Peterson &
Seligman, 1984). The results obtained in the present study are supportive of preceding
investigations in educational backgrounds (Vallerand & Bissonnette, 1992; Vallerand et al.,
1992, 1997), that self initiated motivation yields positive consequences. The learners in the
current study are more amotivation in contrast to earlier studies on Canadian learners
(Vallerand et al., 1992). According to the cognitive evaluation theory, the intensity of
autonomy influences motivation (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 1991; Ryan & Deci, 2000a & b).
Students who receive the support of their guardians and instructors to autonomously
choose their career, develop higher levels of intrinsic motivation thereby lowering drop outs
in high school (Vallerand et al., 1997). Socio contexual events such as usage of extrinsic
incentives like marks (Grolnick & Ryan, 1987) as is relevant in British university system,
lowers the sense of autonomy and hence, lowers intrinsic motivation. Hence, the general
university climate where the present study was conducted increased amotivational
behaviors and resulted in poor outcomes. Finally, sex and entrance qualifications are
responsible for a significant level of variation in the scholastic scores. The result that
students with higher entrance qualifications attained superior marks in the university course
is supportive of earlier results that scores in secondary school and on college entrance
examinations are the finest indicators of the level of scholastic achievement in university
(e.g., Allen, 1999). Females in the current study were more extrinsically motivated than their
male counterparts. The limitations include usage of self-reported measures, inability to

determine the function of motivational orientations on the effects, sample size has gender
imbalance and sample included only psychology students. Hence, the findings in the
present study cannot be generalised outside this learner populace.