Stay Motivated and Carry On: a Meta-Analytic Investigation of Motivational Regulation Strategies and Academic Achievement, Motivation, and Self-Regulation Correlates

Abstract

Motivational regulation, or the way learners purposefully initiate, maintain, or supplement their willingness for task engagement and completion, has been an important area of research in educational psychology. However, despite the surge of research on this topic, it remains unclear how specific motivational regulation strategies relate to learners' academic performance, motivation, and other forms of self-regulation. Based on findings from 55 studies (67 unique samples), we found a range of positive correlations among 10 types and subtypes of motivational regulation strategies and the following variables: academic achievement (rs = .01-.15), motivation (effort, rs = .11-.52; value perceptions, rs = .21-.35; and competence beliefs, rs = .22-.40), and self-regulation (cognitive, rs = .28-.51; behavioral, rs = .10-.33). Moderator results indicated that the magnitudes of associations among motivational regulation strategies and achievement and self-regulation varied by grade level and geographic region. Intercorrelations among motivational regulation strategies indicated wide-ranging degrees of overlap across strategies. Using meta-analytic structural equation modeling, we explored how motivational regulation strategies indirectly related to achievement through motivational beliefs and how self-regulatory factors were precursors to motivational regulation. Our meta-analytic findings shed light upon which motivational regulation strategies might be most adaptive for academic achievement, motivation, and self-regulation, and identified for whom and under what circumstances specific strategies can be most adaptively used.