Examining the relationships among self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and self-worth of adolescent singers in structural equation modeling

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationships among self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and self-worth of adolescent singers, and how each construct functions in high school choir. The second purpose was to understand the degree to which these constructs predicted singing participation after high school graduation. Participants consisted of 215 high school students enrolled in choir from five public high schools in the United States. The majority of participants reported their self-identified gender as female (61.9%, n = 133), with 27.0% reporting as male ( n = 58), and 11.2% preferring to indicate other ( n = 24). IBM SPSS Statistics 28 and Lavaan were used for data analysis. Physiological states were the only significant predictor of singing self-efficacy, p < .05. A significant and positive relationship was found between self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation for singing. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the effect of self-worth on the relationship between self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation, revealing a significant and negative interaction effect in the model, p < .001. Furthermore, the moderation model was a significantly better fit than the direct effect model, p < .001. Participants’ plans to continue participating in singing were positively related to intrinsic motivation and mastery experiences.