Students' reports of motivation and negative affect: A theoretical and empirical analysis.

The authors investigated the self-reported relationships among 5th- and 6th-grade students' achievement goals in mathematics, their negative affect about making mistakes, and their self-regulatory beliefs and behaviors. Cluster analysis revealed 4 motivational-affective patterns. Two groups were characterized by positive motivational-affective patterns and 2 suggested more problematic patterns related to different goal patterns, negative affect, and less positive self-regulatory behaviors and beliefs. Path analyses showed that negative affect after failure mediated performance goals and self-regulatory beliefs and behaviors. The authors propose a theory of achievement goals and affect that explains why students differ in their ability to tolerate error during learning. They also discuss practical and theoretical implications of the role of negative affect in achievement motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)