Socio-Demographic Differences of Academic Motivation in Students

Abstract

This paper reviews the research of learning in students throught socio-demographic determinants of academic motivation. The goal of this research was to determine statistically significant differences in some dimensions of academic motivation (internal motivation, external motivation and amotivation) in students in relation to variables from the socio-demographic domain (sex, age and education level of the respondents). The sample was apparent, 1711 respondents from four countries: Slovakia, Czechia, Serbia and Poland which are involved in some of the levels of formal education, from undergraduate, to doctorate. Respondents of both sexes were included, 20.7% were male, while 79.3% were female, ages ranging from 18 to 61 years (AS=25.4). The results of this study show that there are significant differences in the dimensions of academic motivation in relation to age, sex and education level of the respondents. This research has shown that internal motivation is less developed in younger age groups and those of lower educational levels. The results showed a relatively balanced relationship between internal and external motivation in women, which is not the case with men.

Keywords

• socio-demographic determinants
• internal motivation
• external motivation
• amotivation
• adult learning