Profiles of intrinsic motivation and motivational learning strategies in Spanish University students

Abstract At the university stage, students must face new challenges and achieve necessary academic goals, with intrinsic motivation and the effective use of learning strategies playing a relevant role in not procrastinating. The objective of the study was to investigate the profiles of university students according to their levels of intrinsic motivation. It also sought to examine whether students with different intrinsic motivation profiles differ significantly in motivational learning strategies. The study participants were 719 university students in Spain ( M = 21.31; SD = 4.43), being 64.8% women. The Educational Motivation Scale and the Questionnaire of Learning Strategies in University Students were used. During the completion of the instruments, anonymity and confidentiality of the data were ensured. Informed consent was requested from the participants, who participated voluntarily, without receiving any reward and were able to unsubscribe at any time. This was a cross-sectional study that used convenience sampling. The latent profile analysis was carried out. The results revelated that different intrinsic motivation profiles have been found among university students. Likewise, it was found that the different profiles differ significantly in motivational learning strategies. It was shown that those students with high values of intrinsic motivation are characterized by using motivational learning strategies to a high degree compared to students with low or intermediate values. The findings of the study can help personalize educational programs by providing prevention and intervention methods regarding inappropriate patterns in the use of students’ learning strategies as well as self-regulation in the learning process to ensure academic success.