Interplay of intrinsic motivation and well-being at school

Feeling well at school is crucial for both young people’s healthy self-development and their intrinsic learning motivation. Both concepts, subjective well-being and intrinsic motivation, are central to self-determination theory, but their reciprocal relationship is not studied very well. We hypothesized that the concepts affect each other directly: Students who are intrinsically motivated feel well at school due to positive emotions and the strive for understanding the learning content, which is an intrinsic motivation immanent. Beyond, students who feel well at school are intrinsically motivated, because subjective well-being represents an intrinsic value of the learning situation. This hypothesis is tested using a sample of 773 secondary school students (mean age: 12.7 years, SD = 1.8), who were answering questionnaires at the beginning (T1), at mid (T2) and at the end (T3) of a school year. The data were analyzed using a cross-lagged panel model. The results gave evidence on cross-lagged effects and an indirect effect from subjective well-being to intrinsic motivation to subjective well-being.