The casual relationship between academic motivation and approaches to studying with mediating role of coping strategies during the examinations

Exams days are a stressful period in student's life. In this regard, the purpose of present study was to investigate the casual relationship between academic motivation and approaches to studying with mediating role of coping strategies during the examinations in agricultural students of Shahid Chamran University of Ahwaz. In this descriptive-correlation study, the population was all of the agriculture students of Shahid Chamran University of Ahwaz. From this population 331 students were selected as sample using multi-phase random sampling method. The research instruments in this study were Revised Harter Academic Motivation (R-HAM), Revised Coping Strategies (R-COP) and Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST). Evaluation of the proposed model was by path analysis and bootstrapping procedure in Preacher and Hayes. The proposed model had an appropriate fitness with data. Overall, the results showed that internal motivation with coping strategies and deep study approach has a positive relationship and has negative relationship with the surface study approach. Also, the relationship between external motivation with avoidance coping strategies and surface approach study was positive. Internal motivation didn’t have a significant relationship with avoidance coping strategies and surface study approach. In addition, were positively correlatedbetween internal motivation through coping strategies with student's deep and strategic study approaches and also external motivation through avoidance coping strategies with student's surface study approach. Results were support that stimulating student's intrinsic motivation to adopt coping strategies and consequentlyreinforce depth and strategic approaches to study.