The relationship between university students' academi̇c motivation profiles and psychological needs, academic procrastination and life satisfaction

Academic motivation is one of the important determinants of the behaviors that the students display in the education process. One of the theories, which provide comprehensive insight into this important concept, is the self-determination theory. In the self-determination theory seven diffirent motivation types are defined. The students may have these types of motivation simultaneously at different levels, and may display a variety of profiles based on such motivational characteristic. The purpose of this study is to determine the motivation profiles displayed by university students based on the motivational types which are defined in academic motivation scale developed based on the self-determination theory. In addition, another objective is to establish the relationship of these profiles with the students' sex, perceived academic achievement, psychological need satisfaction, academic procrastination, and life satisfaction. The sample of the study consists of 1700 university students who are currently continuing to study at the Anadolu University. The data of the study was collected using "Academic Motivation Scale," "Need Satisfaction Scale," "Tuckman Procrastination Scale", "Life Satisfaction Scale," and "Information Survey." For the data analysis, there were used hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analysis methods to determine the academic motivation profiles, and chi-square statistics, one way analysis of variance, and one-way analysis of covariance to establish the relationship between the motivation profiles and other variables. The findings of the cluster analysis carried out under the study indicated that the students display three different academic motivation profiles. The first one of these profiles is the "high-level motivation profile" which consists of the students with high-level intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and low-level amotivation. The second profile is the "medium-level motivation profile" which consists of the students with medium-level intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and an amotivation level below the average. The final profile is the "low-level motivation profile" which consists of the students with low-level intrinsic and extrinsic motivation scores and high-level amotivation scores. The findings showed that the students with high-level motivation profile have a significantly higher level of psychological need satisfaction and lower level of academic procrastination compared to the students in the other profile group. In addition, the findings suggested that the students with medium-level motivation profile have also a considerably higher level of psychological need satisfaction and lower level of academic procrastination than the students with low-level motivation. It was found out that the students with the low-level motivation profile have the lowest level of psychological need satisfaction and highest level of academic procrastination. Controlling the students' levels of psychological need satisfaction, the findings related to the life satisfaction scores based on the academic motivation profiles suggested that the students with high-level motivation have a significantly higher level of life satisfaction compared to the students in other profile groups. The findings also suggested that the students with medium-level motivation have a considerably higher level of life satisfaction compared to those involved in the low-level motivation profile group. It was also found out that the students with low-level motivation profile have the lowest level of life satisfaction. Consequently, it is seen that the students display three different motivation profiles, and these profiles have similar tendencies in respect of motivation but only differentiate in quantitative terms. The findings of the study indicated that the students with high-level motivation profile display less academic procrastination behavior; are more satisfied with their lives, and their psychological needs achieve a higher level of satisfaction compared to the students in other profile groups. Key Words: Academic motivation, academic procrastination, cluster analysis, life satisfaction, motivation profile, Self-determination Theory, psychological need satisfaction