A study on social support and motivation

Abstract

This paper analyzes whether there is a correlation between student motivation and perceived social support. The determination of the effects of the perceived social support provided by the students' families, friends, and other important people on the students' motivations will contribute to an explanation of the motivation to learn. This study was conducted with a total of 716 student teachers. The "Multidimensional Scale of-Perceived Social Support" was used to determine social support perceived by the student teachers and the "Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire" was used to determine motivation. Results indicate that there was a correlation between the elements of social support and the levels of use of motivational strategies by the student teachers. The study showed that there was a positive correlation amongst the levels of external motivation, internal motivation, and motivation for subject value of the individuals who received sufficient social support from their environment.