Existential Ennui: Examining the Reciprocal Relationship Between Self-Alienation and Academic Amotivation Academic Article

abstract

• Two studies ( N = 649) examined the association between self-alienation (SA; i.e., feelings of detachment from ones true self) and academic amotivation (AA; i.e., lack of motivation in the academic domain). Based on classical and contemporary theories, a strong link between alienation and amotivation was predicted. A cross-sectional correlation study (Study 1) found that SA significantly predicted AA controlling for relevant variables (e.g., self-efficacy). A four-wave longitudinal design (Study 2) tested the reciprocal relationship between SA and AA within persons. Contrary to the a priori hypothesis that SA would predict amotivation, the path from AA to SA was more consistent and reliable than the other path. The potential bidirectional links between SA and AA, implications, and future directions are discussed.

authors

• Hicks, Joshua
• Schlegel, Rebecca

published proceedings

• SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE

altmetric score

• 0.5

author list (cited authors)

• Kim, J., Christy, A. G., Schlegel, R. J., Donnellan, M. B., & Hicks, J. A.

citation count

• 16

complete list of authors

• Kim, Jinhyung||Christy, Andrew G||Schlegel, Rebecca J||Donnellan, M Brent||Hicks, Joshua A

publication date

• September 2018

publisher

• SAGE Publications  Publisher

published in

• Social Psychological and Personality Science  Journal

keywords

• Academic Motivation
• Cross-lagged Panel Model
• Self-alienation
• True Self

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1177/1948550617727587

start page

• 853

end page

• 862

volume

• 9

issue

• 7

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1948550617727587