Interconnection of Parental Psychological Support, Self-Efficacy and Dissertation

Interconnection of Parental Psychological Support, Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulated Learning for Elementary School Students - Dissertation Example They are able to take decisions that would help them achieve the said goals and turn to adults when they need inputs. Children are not born with such internalized educational goals, and it is necessary to provide them with the appropriate environment that will help them to internalize the desire to succeed and the ability to set personal goals (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Such an environment may be provided by parents and the school, though parents play a more important role as compared to the teachers or the school (Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2005). Children learn to respond to rules and targets set down by parents early in their lives. Parents are a primary source of information, discipline and appreciation for young children, and they quickly learn to internalize the goals and attitudes that gain them appreciation and affection form the parents. This makes it important that parents present the child with experiences that help to develop the qualities that they require in order to succeed. O ne such set of behaviors and attitudes have been discussed by the Self Determination Theory, a macro theory that attempts to explain human decisions, choices and behaviors in terms of the source of motivation. 2.1 Self Determination Theory The term self – determination was initially coined to describe political and philosophical perspectives on the nature of the State and it’s governance (Price, Wolensky, & Mulligan, 2002)and the attributes of the Person and was used to some extent in Psychology to describe the way humans viewed themselves (Wehmeyer, 1999). The Psychological perspective was developed through the late 20th century by Deci and Ryan (1985), who have defined Self Determination as â€Å"A quality of human functioning that involves the experience of choice, in other words, the experience of an internal perceived locus of causality; it is the capacity as well to choose and to have those choices, rather than reinforcement contingencies, drives, or any other f orces or pressures, be the determinants of one’s actions.†(p. 38). Self Determination Theory has been studied by a number of researchers, and has been developed as an explanation of human motivation, behavior and personality (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009; Ryan & Deci, 2000). It assumes that a human being is by nature active, curious, interested in events, self motivated and desirous of success since the experience of success is a satisfying and rewarding experience that reinforces itself (Deci & Ryan, 2008a). Initial work on Self Determination Theory started in the 1970’s and was refined by Deci and Ryan (1985; 2008b) in the 1980’s. The last few decades have seen tremendous work in Self Determination Theory, and various researchers have applied it’s principles to various areas of human functioning like health (Deci & Ryan, 2008b), parenting (Joussemet, et al., 2008), work (Frederic Guay, Senecal, Gauthier, & Fernet, 2003), sport (Standage, Duda, & Ntoumanis , 2005), education (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991), psychotherapy (Ryan & Deci, 2008). Although Self determination is neither absolute control, nor to be confused with success (Wehmeyer, 1998); it does involve the person’s ability to make choices that is autonomous of the influence of others. It is important not to confuse self determination with either self sufficiency or self reliance as Self Determination