Psychometric Properties of the Short Version of the Motivation for Learning and School Activities Scale in University Students

Abstract

Motivation constitutes the driving force that guides human actions toward goal achievement. In the educational context, it directs students’ participation in academic tasks, fosters autonomous study, promotes reflection on their learning needs, encourages perseverance in the face of difficulties, and facilitates the attainment of personal and professional objectives. Given its impact on academic performance and school retention, its assessment in higher education is fundamental for implementing timely interventions. In this context, the present instrumental study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the EMAAE in order to obtain an abbreviated and easily interpretable version that measures motivation and contributes to the design of intervention activities to strengthen motivation in university students. To this end, the EMAAE and IPAA were administered to 1,975 Mexican university students. The confirmatory factor analysis did not support the original structure, leading to the elimination of 10 items. The new version, composed of 8 items grouped into two correlated factors (intrinsic and extrinsic motivation), presented optimal model fit indices, demonstrating construct validity as well as adequate levels of reliability, convergent validity, and concurrent validity. This study offers a brief, valid, and reliable version to the fields of psychometrics and educational research for measuring motivation and fostering its development within the university community so that students can direct their actions toward lifelong learning.