Motivation has received increasing attention across counseling approaches, presumably because clients' motivation is key for treatment effectiveness. The authors define motivation using a self-determination theory taxonomy that conceptualizes motivation along a relative-autonomy continuum. The authors apply the taxonomy in discussing how various counseling approaches address client motivation and autonomy, both in theory and in practice. The authors also consider the motivational implications of nonspecific factors such as therapeutic alliance. Across approaches, the authors find convergence around the idea that clients' autonomy should be respected and collaborative engagement fostered. The authors also address ethical considerations reg arding respect for autonomy and relations of autonomy to multicultural counseling. The authors conclude that supporting autonomy is differentially grounded in theories and differentially implemented in approaches. Specifically, outcome-oriented treatments tend to consider motivation a prerequisite for treatment and emphasize transparency and up-front consent; process-oriented treatments tend to consider motivation a treatment aspect and give less emphasis to transparency and consent.

Using self-determination theory, two studies investigated the relations among perceived need support from parents, their adolescents' autonomous self-regulation for academics, and the adolescents' well-being. Study 1 indicated that perceived need support from parents independently predicted adolescents' wellbeing, although when mothers' and fathers' data were examined separately, the relation was stronger for mothers than for fathers. In Study 2, autonomous self-regulation for planning to attend college was a significant partial mediator of the relation of adolescents' perceived need support to well-being. Thus, perceived need support from parents does seem important for the development of adolescents' autonomous self-regulation and well-being. r

Self-determination theory suggests that autonomy support from others is important in motivating change of various health behaviors. The present research provides initial validation for the Important Other Climate Questionnaire for smoking (IOCQ-S) and for diet (IOCQ-D) in the context of a large (N ϭ 1,006) intensive tobacco treatment and dietary intervention trial. These scales are intended to measure the degree of autonomy support patients experience from important others (non-health care professionals) with respect to tobacco abstinence and eating a healthy diet. Results indicate the measures are reliable (␣ ϭ .87 smoking and .95 diet) and valid. Important other support was associated with change in perceived autonomy and perceived competence for target behaviors. Further, the IOCQ-S was associated with 7-day point prevalence cessation and 6-month prolonged abstinence from tobacco. The IOCQ-D was associated with a change in the percentage of calories from fat, saturated fat, and monounsaturated fat. Initial reliability and validity are supported for the IOCQ.

A patient-centered, computer-assisted intervention was effective in improving diabetes self-management outcomes, in part, because it increased patients' perception that their autonomy was supported which changed perceived competence. These findings support the self-determination model for health behavior change and the chronic care model and support the further study of the use of these technologies to motivate patients to improve their health outcomes.

Two studies with Chinese international students in Belgium and Canada investigated the role of two motivational factors in students' decision to study abroad: the level of self-determined motivation and the content of their goals. A newly developed questionnaire, the Self-regulation Questionnaire-Study Abroad was used to test the hypothesis that self-determined motivation to study abroad would be more beneficial for students' adaptation outcomes than non-self-determined motivation. This hypothesis was generally supported. Using the Goals for Study Abroad Scale, the two-factor structure of students' goals was discovered. It consisted of a 'Preservation factor', which reflects the goals of avoiding disadvantageous conditions in the home country, and a 'Selfdevelopment factor', which reflects the goal of pursuing good education and better career opportunities abroad. The preservation goals were negatively related with cultural adaptation indicators. The level of self-determination and the goals to study abroad had an independent effect on cultural adaptation of the students. The potential applications of these two motivational parameters to study migration motivation were discussed. r