Adolescents’ and Parents’ Regulatory Focus as Determinants of Future Time Perspective on School and Professional Career

Future time perspective (FTP) - individuals' orientation towards future goals and consideration of future consequences - is a successful motivator in education and work. This study is the first that integrates Regulatory focus (RF) theory with FTP theory to explore relationships between adolescents' RF, their perceptions of parents' RF, and their FTP on school and professional career. A total of N = 347 adolescents participated in the study. Structural equation analyses showed that adolescents' promotion RF was positively related to FTP on school and professional career, whereas adolescents' prevention RF was negatively related to their FTP. Adolescents' perceptions of parent regulatory foci were related to their own regulatory foci. Specifically, when adolescents perceived that their parents stimulate them to take on challenges, they were more promotion focused and contemplated more strongly on their future school and career. Implications for FTP and RF theory, and child development and education are discussed

Development of motivation in first-year students in Dutch senior secondary vocational education

This study examined the development in motivation for school in students in senior secondary vocational education and factors related to this development. There have been many concerns about a decline in motivation after school transitions. Little about this subject is known in relation to the transition to senior secondary vocational education. Knowledge about this is necessary, as the decline is expected to be more extensive in this type of school because the percentage of dropouts is high. For this research, 614 first-year students filled out a questionnaire four times. The results showed little average change in motivation during the first school year, although there was a decrease in students' academic delay of gratification after the transition. Associations with motivation similar to those found in studies of secondary schools were found, but only at the start of the school year, not with changes in it during the remainder of the year