Maintaining motivation and regulating emotion: measuring individual differences in academic volitional strategies

This study examined self-regulatory strategies used by students to maintain motivation on academic goal tasks. Of particular interest were strategies for managing potentially disruptive emotional states. The Academic Volitional Strategy Inventory (AVSI) was developed to investigate this aspect of student self-regulatory behavior. Three separate student samples (n = 378; n = 463; n = 246) from a large southwestern university contributed to the refinement of the AVSI, and supported theoretical arguments for the existence of volitional self-regulatory action by students in maintaining academic task motivation. Factor analyses performed on items for each administration of the AVSI revealed a three-factor structure as providing a conceptually clear division of items. Item groupings consisted of strategies reflecting (1) self-efficacy enhancement, (2) stress reduction, and (3) negative-based incentives. Reliability estimates revealed strong internal consistency and stability. Further analyses currently in progress to support the validity of the scale are also discussed. However, the preliminary results presented in this paper suggest that the AVSI is a promising research instrument, and one that captures an aspect of self-regulatory action not adequately examined by existing instruments.