Behavioral aspects and learning motivation: a study of middle school adolescents

PURPOSE: To analyze the association between behavioral aspects and learning motivation according to age, sex, and grade in school in middle school students. METHODS: Observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study with 11- to 14-year-old adolescents, who answered the participant characterization questionnaire, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire – SDQ-Por, and the Learning Motivation Evaluation Scale – EMAPRE. Descriptive and bivariate statistical analyses were conducted. RESULTS: In the sample researched, there was a statistically significant association between the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire domains and the learning motivation goals. It demonstrated that the students with higher means and medians for higher quality motivations had normal results in the SDQ conduct problems, whereas those with a greater tendency to a more extrinsic motivation had an abnormal result in peer relationship problems. In the total classification, the sample students with higher mean and median for the learning goal (which refers to a greater academic commitment) had a normal result, whereas those more prone to the performance-avoidance goal had more abnormal results. The learning motivation did not vary according to age and grade in school, and the adolescents had a greater tendency to the learning goal than to the other two. CONCLUSION: The association between the behavioral aspects and the learning motivation in the sample assessed was present in the abnormal SDQ-Por scores in relation to the performance-avoidance goal, and in the normal SDQ-Por scores in relation to the learning goal.