Intrinsic motivation of rural adolescents in China: How individuation influences?

•Intrinsic motivation of rural Chinese adolescents.•Explore how individuation influences rural Chinese adolescents’ intrinsic motivation?•Explore how cultural context influences rural Chinese adolescents’ intrinsic motivation? According to the self-determination theory, intrinsic motivation is very essential for adolescents’ development as it can yield many positive outcomes. Therefore, this study focuses on rural adolescents’ intrinsic motivation, an issue that has not received sufficient attention in previous studies. This study also considers the effects of the natural intrapsychic process and the social-cultural context on rural adolescents’ intrinsic motivation from the ecological perspective. The data used in the study are from a survey of 995 rural adolescents in China. The results showed that individuation and traditional Chinese culture had positive effects on rural adolescents’ intrinsic motivation, although their interaction effect was negative on their intrinsic motivation. These findings imply a need to boost rural adolescents’ intrinsic motivation and balance it with traditional Chinese culture.