The Relationship Between Motivation and Academic Performance Among Medical Students in Riyadh
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BACKGROUND: Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activities are initiated and sustained. Motivation is a crucial factor in academic achievement. The study aims to measure students' demographic factors and external environments' effect on their motivation and determine the impact of students' motivation and self-efficacy on their learning engagement and academic performance. METHODOLOGY: This is a cross-sectional study that involved distributing an online digital questionnaire, which was applied in the capital of Saudi Arabia, "Riyadh." The students' motivation was assessed using three scales that are designed to measure the students' intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and learning engagement. RESULTS: In this study, we collected 429 responses from our distributed questionnaire among medical students where males represented 60.1% of the sample. Moreover, we classified the satisfaction level into five subcategories: very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, unsatisfied, and very unsatisfied. We found that most of the students (38.7%) were satisfied with their academic performance, while 17.7% were strongly satisfied. The mean enrollment motivation score in this study was 19.83 (SD 2.69), and when determining its subcategories, we found that the mean intrinsic motivation score was 10.33 (out of 12) and the mean extrinsic motivation score was 10.23 (out of 12). Moreover, the mean self-efficacy score was 9.61 and the mean learning engagement score was 8.97 (out of 12). Moreover, we found that a longer duration needed by the students to reach the college from their residence is significantly associated with lower learning engagement reported by the students (8.54 vs. 9.13 in shorter times, P=0.034). Finally, we found that students who entered medical school as their first choice had significantly higher intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and learning engagement. CONCLUSION: A student's preference for entering medical school will affect their motivation, self-efficacy, and learning engagement. Moreover, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations significantly correlate with self-efficacy and satisfaction with academic performance; however, they have no effect on the grade point average (GPA) of the last semester. The only factor that positively correlates with students' GPA is learning engagement.
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Academic adjustment has been consistently associated with better academic outcomes, greater university satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and psychological well-being.
“Academic adjustment has been consistently associated with better academic outcomes, greater university satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and psychological well-being [2–4,6].”
From Academic motivation, procrastination, and adjustment: Exploring their impact on student profiles and academic performance (2025) · cites this paper as [6]
The Introduction (page unavailable) says motivation can positively affect both academic performance and adjustment; it does not say academic adjustment is associated with the outcomes listed in the claim. The Discussion reports associations involving motivation, engagement, and performance, but not adjustment, university satisfaction, or psychological well-being. Searches for academic adjustment, university satisfaction, and well-being found no passage establishing the claimed associations. (LLM, conf=0.73)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInadequate academic adjustment is associated with increased dropout rates, mental health difficulties, and lower academic performance, particularly in the first year of university.
“Inadequate academic adjustment has been associated with increased dropout rates, mental health difficulties, and lower academic performance, particularly in transitional periods such as the first year of university [5–6].”
From Academic motivation, procrastination, and adjustment: Exploring their impact on student profiles and academic performance (2025) · cites this paper as [6]
The Introduction discusses motivation, adjustment, and academic performance, while the Results examine motivation and GPA among medical students. Neither section links inadequate academic adjustment to dropout, mental health difficulties, or lower performance during the first year. Searches for dropout, mental health, adjustment, and first-year transitions found no passage making that claim; the References list contains a related title but does not establish its findings. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Cites
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“According to the results of the study, students with high levels of participation are more self-efficient than students with low levels of participation; It has been observed that these students spend a lot of time learning [10].”
ResultMotivational profiles from a self-determination perspective: The quality of motivation matters.
Vansteenkiste, M., Sierens, E., Soenens, B., Luyckx, K., & Lens, W. (2009) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0015083 · Cited by 1,074 · see citing works
Motivation in action: Towards a process‐oriented conceptualisation of student motivation
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The Relations Between Student Motivational Beliefs and Cognitive Engagement in High School
Walker, C. O., & Greene, B. A. (2009) · The Journal of Educational Research · doi:10.3200/joer.102.6.463-472 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
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Vlachopanou, P., Maska, L., Kalamaras, D., & Nasika, F. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0335913 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bin Abdulrahman, K. A., Alshehri, A. S., Alkhalifah, K. M., Alasiri, A., Aldayel, M. S., Alahmari, F. S., Alothman, A. M., & Alfadhel, M. A.
- Affiliations
- Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University (SA)
- Corresponding author
- Alshehri, Abdulrahman S
- Venue
- Cureus
- Published
- 2023-10-10
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- e46815-e46815
- ISSN
- 2168-8184 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10636236
- OpenAlex
- W4387536858
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 9
- FWCI
- 8.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Cureus (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Outcomes and Influences
- Keywords
- student motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, student engagement, academic performance, medical students, grade point average, commuting distance, academic satisfaction
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