PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN Guay et al. / AUTONOMY SUPPORT, INTRINSIC MOTIVATION Autonomy Support, Intrinsic Motivation, and Perceived Competence: Conceptual and Empirical Linkages

The purpose of this study was to test three models with regard to the linkages among autonomy support, intrinsic motivation, and perceived competence. The first model is based on Cognitive Evaluation Theory and postulates that teachers ’ autonomy sup-port influences changes in intrinsic motivation via changes in perceived academic competence. However, the second and the third model are based on the Diathesis Stress Model of Achieve-ment Processes and posit, respectively, that intrinsic motivation could play a mediating and a moderating role in the relation between teachers ’ autonomy support and changes in perceived competence. A total of 215 fifth-grade children participated in a longitudinal study over a 1-year period. Results from regression analyses provided some support for the first model but stronger support for the second and third model. Over the past 25 years, numerous studies have explored the intrinsic-extrinsic motivation dichotomy (see Vallerand, 1997, for a review). Intrinsic motivation refers to performing an activity for itself to experience pleasure and satisfaction inherent in the activity. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation involves engaging in an activity for external reasons such as receiving rewards or avoiding punishments (Deci & Ryan, 1985). In this arti-cle, we present and test three models based on cognitive evaluation theory (CET) (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and the diathesis-stress model of achievement processes (e.g., Boggiano, 1998a). These models represent how inter-personal style influences intrinsic-extrinsic motivational processes