Prediction of Intrinsic Motivation of Female Students through Basic Psychological Needs in Mathematics

Self-determination theory (SDT) states that satisfaction of basic psychological needs, including the need for autonomy, competence and relatedness will lead to intrinsic motivation. This study examines the relationship between basic psychological needs and intrinsic motivation of Iranian female students in mathematics. For this purpose, 382 students of five school responded to the scale of intrinsic motivation and psychological basic needs. The results show that the correlation coefficient between intrinsic motivation and autonomy is 0/062, which reflects the lack of relationship between these two components. The relationships obtained between intrinsic motivation and competence was, 0/402, relatedness with teacher was 0/317 and relatedness with classmates  was 0/273. Multiple regression analysis showed that competence and relatedness with teacher can predict intrinsic motivation. In other words, 19.6% of the variance associated with competence  and relatedness with teacher can explain the intrinsic motivation changes. Due to the significant level, the resulting amount is significant.