Motivation for myopia prevention: a preliminary test of the trans-contextual model

Background: Near-work is one of the major antecedents of myopia. Therefore, this study aims to apply the trans-contextual model to understand how self-determined (SD) motivation of myopia prevention and autonomy support are associated with the SD-motivation and behaviour of reading at an optimal dis...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chan, D., Hagger, Martin, Fung, Y.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Routledge 2012
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/13287
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Summary:Background: Near-work is one of the major antecedents of myopia. Therefore, this study aims to apply the trans-contextual model to understand how self-determined (SD) motivation of myopia prevention and autonomy support are associated with the SD-motivation and behaviour of reading at an optimal distance. Methods: Participants (108 undergraduate students) completed questionnaires of the study variables one month before we assessed their 18 EHPS 2012 abstracts Downloaded by [Chinese University of Hong Kong] at 01:22 17 June 2014 voluntary reading distance (by an ultrasound-device) at a laboratory setting. We analysed the data by partial-least-square modeling. Findings: Consistent with the hypothesis, SD-motivation of myopia prevention was predicted positively by autonomy support from significant others (i.e., parents and optometrists), and it was the significant predictor of the SD-motivation of optimal-distance-reading. Participants who had higher levels of SD-motivation of optimal-distance-reading tended to read further away from the reading material. Discussion: The trans-contextual model may be a useful framework to explain the top-down motivational process of myopia prevention.