Resumen: La elección de una carrera universitaria supone el resultado de un proceso de autodescubrimiento en el que intervienen diversas variables. El objetivo central de la presente investigación es analizar cuáles son los motivos que llevan a los estudiantes de Bachillerato a elegir unos determinados estudios. Para ello, se ha diseñado una escala que permite medir los motivos de elección de estudios universitarios. Participaron 2005 estudiantes (46.10% hombres y 53.90% mujeres) de segundo curso de Bachillerato con edades comprendidas entre los 17 y los 24 años (M = 17.56; DT = .77) que suponen el 44.95% del total de los centros educativos asturianos que imparten diferentes ramas de Bachillerato: Ciencias y Tecnología (54.4%), Ciencias Sociales (30%), Humanidades (14.2%) y Artes (1.4%). La nueva escala presenta unas adecuadas propiedades psicométricas y ha permitido comprobar qué tipo de motivos tienen un mayor peso en la elección de estudios universitarios. Las motivaciones intrínsecas relacionadas con las preferencias personales de los estudiantes fueron las más influyentes. Sin embargo, motivaciones de tipo extrínseco como la tradición familiar o la facilidad de la carrera, fueron las que menos influyen en la elección de un determinado grado universitario.Palabras clave: Grado Universitario, Motivos, Cuestionario, Bachillerato, Orientación Vocacional.
What motives have high school students for choosing a college degree?Abstract: Choosing a college degree is the result of a self discovery process in which many variables are involved. The main aim of the present research is to analyze what motives lead to high school students to choose a college career. To this end, a scale was designed in order to measure the motives of choosing a college degree. 2005 high school students (46.10% males y 53.90% females) aged 17 to 24 (M = 17.56; DT = .77) participated in the study and represent 44.95 % from the total of school centers of the Principality of Asturias). These centers teach the post-compulsory education which is divided into different branches, depending on the focus of study: Science and Technology (54.4%), Social Sciences (30%), Humanities (14.2%), and Arts (1.4%). The new scale has adequate psychometric properties and it has allowed to check the main motives for choosing a college degree. The most influential intrinsic motivations are those related to personal preferences of students. On the other hand, the extrinsic motivations such as family tradition or the ease of the course were the least influential motivations when choosing a university degree course.
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