Als je voor een dubbeltje bent geboren, kun je dan een kwartje worden? – Nabijheid in ouderschapstijl als mediator tussen SES en intrinsieke motivatie

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this master's thesis is to investigate the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and intrinsic motivation and whether communion in parental style mediates SES and intrinsic motivation. Communion is closely connected to the basic need 'relatedness' from the self-determination theory (SDT). Method: The data was analyzed with a sample of 190 adolescents (sixth-grade children in their transition to high school) and one of their parents. SES was measured by a parent self-report and intrinsic motivation by a questionnaire of the adolescent’s self-reported intrinsic motivation at school. Parental-style communion was measured with 190 videos, in which the parent and adolescent discuss an unresolved conflict task. Joystick coding encodes the degree of communion from the parent. The research questions were answered with regression and mediation analysis. In addition, a qualitative analysis was also conducted with two specific case studies. Results: This study found no relationship between SES and intrinsic motivation. There was a significant positive relationship between SES and communion in parenting style, but no relationship between communion in parenting style and intrinsic motivation. Also, there was no mediating effect on communion between SES and intrinsic motivation. The qualitative research part found differences in the way parents gave meaning to communion. Conclusion: The absence of communion as a mediator between SES and intrinsic motivation may possibly be related to the fact that offering only communion as a parent is insufficient to achieve intrinsic motivation in adolescents. According to the SDT, all three components, relatedness, autonomy and competence, are necessary for intrinsic motivation, which was also found in the qualitative research part.