Academic Motivation and Alienation from Study as Predictors of Education Trajectory Choice

A large body of studies on the choice of educational trajectories is aimed at identifying the role of the family, socio-economic status, and place of residence. But the psychological patterns of preferences for educational trajectories have received less attention. Current study is aimed at identifying motivational predictors. The study presents an analysis of data obtained from 1914 schoolchildren studying in 9 classes, living in the urban (952 people) and rural areas (962 people) aged 14 to 16 years (M=15.33, SD=0.49), 57% - girls. As a result of the study, it was found that the orientation towards higher education is determined by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Orientation to receive secondary vocational education is associated with amotivation and alienation from study. Schoolchildren living in rural areas tend to settle down and are more oriented towards education, both secondary vocational and higher.