The Study On The Relationship Between Learning Motivation And Subjective Well-being Of Older University Students

The learning motivation of elderly university students refers to an internal process or psychological state that stimulates them to learn,to maintain the learning state and to direct the behavior towards a certain learning goal.Stimulating the learning motivation of senior university students properly is to a certain extent beneficial to the improvement of subjective well-being.Objective:To revise the motivation questionnaire of older university students and to investigate their learning motivation as well as subjective well-being and to reveal the relationship between them.Then,it provided reasonably suggestions for motivating the learning motivation of older university students and improving their subjective well-being basing on the finding.Methods:Using the research approach of“literature review--questionnaire revision--empirical investigation--statistic analysis of data”,mainly with the methods of literature and interviews and questionnaire,the tools of Learning Motivation Questionnaire on Elderly University Students revised and Newfoundland Memorial University happiness scale of Chinese version,361 elderly university students from Elderly University of Huanggang and Nanchang Elderly University were selected to explore the status and relations of senior university students’learning motivation and subjective well-being.Results:1.After project analysis and exploratory factor analysis,the revised Learning Motivation Questionnaire on Elderly University Students included 15 items and 4 factors,the cumulative variance contribution rate of the four factors was54.885%;the homogeneity reliability of each factor was from 0.707 to 0.820,the total questionnaire reliability was 0.850,so the questionnaire reliability was suitable.The correlation coefficient among all dimensions was between 0.215 and 0.481,the correlation coefficient between each dimension and the total questionnaire was between 0.624 and 0.798.The confirmatory factor analysis indicators were as follows:χ~2/df=2.160;RMSEA=0.057;RMR=0.039;NFI=0.900;TLI=0.929;CFI=0.943;IFI=0.944;GFI=0.939;AGFI=0.913,which indicating the structural validity was appropriate.Based on literature review and expert review,the content validity of the questionnaire was ensured.2.The correlation coefficient between learning motivation and subjective well-being was 0.426(P<0.01).Learning motivation had a significant positive predictive effect on subjective well-being(P<0.001),which can explain the variation of subjective well-being of 17.9%.Conclusions:1.Learning Motivation Questionnaire on Elderly University Students revised included four dimensions:cognitive interest,social services,social interaction,and enrichment of life.The questionnaire can be used as an effective instrument to measure the learning motivation of elderly university students as a good reliability and validity.2.The level of motivation for learning in older university students was generally higher,intrinsic motivation(such as:interest in knowledge,enrichment of life,etc.)was a key factor in promoting their participation in learning.Their learning motivation showed significant differences in terms of age,education level,number of children,occupation before retirement,physical health,and monthly average income.3.The level of subjective well-being of elderly university students was generally higher,their subjective well-being showed significant differences in terms of age,education level,marital status,number of children,living conditions,physical health,monthly average income,and years of learning.4.Learning motivation with its four dimensions were significantly positively correlated with subjective well-being and positive factors but negatively correlated with negative factors.Interest in knowledge,social communication,and social services had some positive predictive effects on subjective well-being,but its explanatory power were not strong.