Browsing by Author "Hankonen, Nelli"

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Basic psychological needs, quality of motivation, and protective behavior intentions : a nationally representative survey study
(2023-09-25) Pietilä, Meri; Saurio, Kaisa; Martela, Frank; Silfver, Mia; Hankonen, Nelli
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Objective: Building on the Self-Determination Theory, this study examines how basic psychological need satisfaction related to COVID-19 behavioral measures is associated with motivation quality and whether motivation quality is associated with intention to wear a face mask and to avoid meeting others. Methods: Cross-sectional survey study involving a nationally representative sample of Finnish adult population aged 18–79 (N = 2272, M age = 48.63, SD = 16.89, 975 men and 1297 women) was conducted in Finland in May 2021 when protective behaviors were recommended to prevent acceleration of the epidemic. Measures included scales of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Adhering to COVID Prevention Measures, Motivation to Adhere to COVID Prevention Measures, Perceived Personal Risk, Fear of COVID-19, and Protective Behavior Intention. Analysis of variance tests, linear regression analysis, and multinomial logistic regression were conducted. Perceived personal risk and fear of COVID-19 were controlled for in theregression analyses. Results: All three psychological needs were positively related to autonomous motivation (all p <.001). Autonomous motivation (range OR = 1.82–3.55, p =.001) was consistently related to intention to wear a mask and intention to avoid meeting people. Controlled motivation (range OR =.66–.93, p =.001–.457) was associated with decreased protective behavior intentions. The effects of amotivation (range OR =.65–1.02, p =.001–.911) varied across analyses. Conclusions: Fostering autonomous motivation could increase adherence to protective behaviors in situations without clear mandates.
How does a school-based intervention impact students’ social cognitions on reducing sedentary behavior over 14 months?
(2023) Aulbach, Matthias Burkard; Puukko, Sarmite; Palsola, Minttu; Haukkala, Ari; Sund, Reijo; Vasankari, Tommi; Hankonen, Nelli
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Despite sedentary behavior being ubiquitous in students and detrimental to health, interventions specifically targeting it are mostly restricted to leisure time screen time reduction. With six weekly sessions alongside a poster campaign and an additional teacher intervention, the Let’s Move It trial delivered environmental and psychological strategies to increase physical activity (PA) and reduce sedentary behavior (SB) in vocational schools, an understudied environment for behavioral interventions. Participants in the intervention arm considerably reduced sedentary time post-intervention. To investigate how social cognitions about restricting SB, as defined by the Reasoned Action Approach, change in intervention and control arms, self-reported data on social cognitions was collected as part of a cluster-randomized controlled trial from 1166 students (59% female, mage = 18.7 years, range: 16–49) in six vocational schools before, post-intervention, and 14 months post-baseline. Data were analyzed using mixed between-within repeated measures ANOVA. We found greater improvements in intention (F(1, 833) = 9.69; η2p = 0.01; p =.018) and descriptive norms (F(1, 831) = 13.25; η2p = 0.016; p <.001) in the intervention than control arm, but these effects depended on the included control variables. Generally, intervention effects leveled off from post-intervention to follow-up. The Let’s Move It intervention for SB reduction showed modest, short-lived effects on social cognitions, indicating that changes in behavior are likely due to other factors like changes to the classroom environment. Optimally, SB reduction interventions should not only change behavior but produce robust changes in conscious intentions to restrict one’s sitting, so that positive effects generalize to other contexts.
Motivating voluntary compliance to behavioural restrictions: Self-determination theory–based checklist of principles for COVID-19 and other emergency communications
(2021-07-03) Martela, Frank; Hankonen, Nelli; Ryan, Richard M.; Vansteenkiste, Maarten
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
An effective response to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic is dependent on the public voluntarily adhering to governmental rules and guidelines. How the guidelines are communicated can significantly affect whether people will experience a sense of self-initiation and volition, protecting compliance from eroding. From the perspective of Self-Determination Theory, a broad theory on human motivation and its interpersonal determinants, effective communication involves the delicate combination of providing rules and structure in a caring and autonomy-supportive way. Research in applied domains from public messaging to education and health has shown that when social agents set limits in more autonomy-supportive, caring, and competence-fostering ways, it predicts autonomous forms of compliance, which in turn predict greater adherence and long-term persistence. Building on SDT, integrated with insights from social identity theory, we derive a practice-focused checklist with key communication guidelines to foster voluntary compliance in national crises such as the prevention of COVID-19 spread.