The school-subject-specificity hypothesis: Implication in the relationship with grades

The aim of the present study was to examine the implication of the differences in autonomous and controlled motivation specificity in their relationships with student’s grades. The school-subject-specificity hypothesis postulates that the more autonomous the regulation is, the more specific to a school subject it is. 579 junior high school children were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their motivation at the academic level as well as at the situational level (i.e., French, mathematics, English, and physical education), both simultaneously. As expected, results from structural equation modeling revealed that autonomous motivation was more specific to the situational level than controlled motivation. Moreover, results showed that the more specific the regulations are, the more relationships with students’ grades can be found. Therefore, this study offers a new understanding of previous results between autonomous and controlled regulations with grades and of the relationships between academic self-concepts, academic achievement and motivation.