The roles of autonomy support and harmonious and obsessive passions in educational persistence

This research aims at examining the role of autonomy support and passion in the persistence of students involved in higher education. In academic settings, autonomy-supportive environments consider students as self-determined individuals who are capable of making choices. In contrast, controlling academic environments impose pressure on students without giving them a clear rationale for doing so. Because autonomy support facilitates the self-determined internalization of behavior, it is expected to be associated with a harmonious passion and with high persistence into the chosen field of study, whereas less autonomy-supportive environments are expected to relate to obsessive passion and to hinder persistence. The results of two studies involving music students, using correlational and short longitudinal designs, mainly supported these hypotheses. The divergent impact of autonomy support and passion in persistence is discussed.

► Autonomy support from teachers is associated with harmonious passion towards studies.
► Less autonomy-supportive, or controlling, environments are related to obsessive passion.
► Harmonious passion is linked with persistence in musical education, while obsessive passion is unrelated to it.
► Teaching in an autonomy-supportive way and promoting harmonious passion could help students persist in their career path.