Children's autonomy and perceived control in learning: A model of motivation and achievement in Taiwan.

A model of motivation and achievement was tested with data from 50 teachers and 806 Grade 4-6 students in Taiwan. Autonomy as a construct was shown to have ecological validity in Chinese children. The proposed model fit the data well, showing that maternal involvement and autonomy support, as well as teachers' autonomy support, are important for children's autonomy and perceived control. Without the mediation of perceived control, autonomy had a small negative effect on performance; controlling for perceived control, external motivation orientation was a positive predictor for Chinese children's effort and performance. The teachers' reported motivating style, as construed in Western research, does not correspond with Chinese children's perceptions of their teachers nor does it have any relationship with their motivation measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Processes by Which Perceived Autonomy Support in Physical Education Promotes Leisure-Time Physical Activity Intentions and Behavior: A Trans-Contextual Model.

The trans-contextual model proposes that young people's perceived autonomy support in physical education will affect their perceived locus of causality, intentions, and physical activity behavior in leisure time. High school students completed measures of perceived autonomy support and perceived locus of causality in physical education. One week later, participants' perceived locus of causality and constructs from the theory of planned behavior were assessed in leisure time. Leisure-time physical activity behavior was measured 5 weeks later. Perceived autonomy support in physical education affected leisure-time physical activity directly and indirectly through a motivational sequence involving internal perceived locus of causality, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and intentions. Results support the trans-contextual model indicating that perceived autonomy support in an educational context influences motivation in a leisure-time context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender, ethnicity, and social cognitive factors predicting the academic achievement of students in engineering.

Examines the relationships of measures of occupational and academic self-efficacy; vocational interests; outcome expectations; academic ability; and perceived stress, support, and coping to the academic achievement of women and men enrolled in university-level engineering/science programs. 197 students from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds responded to scales measuring the variables of interest; high school and college academic data were obtained from university records. Self-efficacy for academic milestones, in combination with other academic and support variables, was found to be the strongest predictor of college academic achievement. Outcome expectations, vocational interests, and low levels of stress were in turn the strongest predictors of academic self-efficacy. Prediction equations for Euro-American and Mexican-American students revealed no significant contribution of ethnicity to the prediction of college academic achievement; however, ethnicity did enter into the equations predicting the 2 self-efficacy variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What it takes to do well in school and whether I've got it: A process model of perceived control and children's engagement and achievement in school.

A new conceptualization of perceived control was used to test a process model describing the contribution of these perceptions to school achievement for students in elementary school (N?=?220). Three sets of beliefs were distinguished: (a) expectations about whether one can influence success and failure in school (control beliefs); (b) expectations about the strategies that are effective in producing academic outcomes; and (c) expectations about one's own capacities to execute these strategies. Correlational and path analyses were consistent with a process model which predicted that children's perceived control (self-report) influences academic performance (grades and achievement test scores) by promoting or undermining active engagement in learning activities (as reported by teachers) and that teachers positively influence children's perceived control by provision of contingency and involvement (as reported by students). These results have implications for theories of perceived control and also suggest one pathway by which teachers can enhance children's motivation in school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic and emotional functioning in early adolescence: longitudinal relations, patterns, and prediction by experience in middle school

Adopting a motivational perspective on adolescent development, these two companion studies examined the longitudinal relations between early adolescents' school motivation (competence beliefs and values), achievement, emotional functioning (depressive symptoms and anger), and middle school perceptions using both variable- and person-centered analytic techniques. Data were collected from 1041 adolescents and their parents at the beginning of seventh and the end of eight grade in middle school. Controlling for demographic factors, regression analyses in Study 1 showed reciprocal relations between school motivation and positive emotional functioning over time. Furthermore, adolescents' perceptions of the middle school learning environment (support for competence and autonomy, quality of relationships with teachers) predicted their eighth grade motivation, achievement, and emotional functioning after accounting for demographic and prior adjustment measures. Cluster analyses in Study 2 revealed several different patterns of school functioning and emotional functioning during seventh grade that were stable over 2 years and that were predictably related to adolescents' reports of their middle school environment. Discussion focuses on the developmental significance of schooling for multiple adjustment outcomes during adolescence.     

Ethnic differences in adolescent achievement: An ecological perspective.

Using data collected from a large sample of high school students, the authors challenge 3 widely held explanations for the superior school performance of Asian-American adolescents and the inferior performance of African- and Hispanic-American adolescents: group differences in (1) parenting practices, (2) familial values about education, and (3) youngsters' beliefs about the occupational rewards of academic success. They found that White youngsters benefit from the combination of authoritative parenting and peer support for achievement, whereas Hispanic youngsters suffer from a combination of parental authoritarianism and low peer support. Among Asian-American students, peer support for academic excellence offsets the negative consequences of authoritarian parenting. Among African-American youngsters, the absence of peer support for achievement undermines the positive influence of authoritative parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do Psychosocial and Study Skill Factors Predict College Outcomes? A Meta-Analysis.

This study examines the relationship between psychosocial and study skill factors (PSFs) and college outcomes by meta-analyzing 109 studies. On the basis of educational persistence and motivational theory models, the PSFs were categorized into 9 broad constructs: achievement motivation, academic goals, institutional commitment, perceived social support, social involvement, academic self-efficacy, general self-concept, academic-related skills, and contextual influences. Two college outcomes were targeted: performance (cumulative grade point average; GPA) and persistence (retention). Meta-analyses indicate moderate relationships between retention and academic goals, academic self-efficacy, and academic-related skills (ps = .340, .359, and .366, respectively). The best predictors for GPA were academic self-efficacy and achievement motivation (ps = .496 and .303, respectively). Supplementary regression analyses confirmed the incremental contributions of the PSF over and above those of socioeconomic status, standardized achievement, and high school GPA in predicting college outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of Academic Self-Handicapping and Achievement: Examining Achievement Goals, Classroom Goal Structures, and Culture.

The purposes of this study were to examine the predictors and achievement consequences of academic self-handicapping and to explore cultural variations in the pursuit and effects of performance goals and perceived classroom performance goal structures. Data were collected in 2 consecutive academic years from a diverse sample of high school students (N=675). Performance-avoidance and classroom performance goal structure were positively associated with self-handicapping, whereas performance-approach goals negatively predicted handicapping. Self-handicapping was negatively associated with achievement in English. Cultural differences in the effects of performance goals on achievement and in the effects of classroom performance goal structure on the subsequent adoption of personal performance goals were found. Implications for efforts to alter classroom goal structures are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental behaviors and adolescents' achievement goals at the beginning of middle school: Emotional problems as potential mediators.

Recent literature on the determinants of academic motivation has shown that parenting and emotions are central elements in understanding students' achievement goals. The authors of this study set out to examine the predictive relationship between parental behaviors during the last year of elementary school and adolescents' achievement goals at the end of their first year of middle school. Manifestations of anxiety and depression in Grade 6 were examined as explanatory mechanisms for this relationship. A total of 498 early adolescents participated in the study. The results of structural equation modeling analyses demonstrated that parental involvement predicted mastery goals, whereas parental control predicted performance goals among these adolescents. This relationship was mediated by the adolescents' symptoms of anxiety. These results underscore the need for educators and clinicians to consider parental behaviors and emotional problems among elementary school students when seeking to understand the behaviors and learning strategies adopted by these students in middle school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A motivational model of rural students' intentions to persist in, versus drop out of, high school.

Using self-determination theory, the authors tested a motivational model to explain the conditions under which rural students formulate their intentions to persist in, versus drop out of, high school. The model argues that motivational variables underlie students' intentions to drop out and that students' motivation can be either supported in the classroom by autonomy-supportive teachers or frustrated by controlling teachers. LISREL analyses of questionnaire data from 483 rural high school students showed that the provision of autonomy support within classrooms predicted students' self-determined motivation and perceived competence. These motivational resources, in turn, predicted students' intentions to persist, versus drop out, and they did so even after controlling for the effect of achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement motivation: A rational approach to psychological education.

Investigated the achievement motivation training component of psychological education, using 54 late-adolescent pupils as Ss. Ss were stratified and randomly placed into control and experimental groups. In addition to a reduction of test anxiety, the experimental training program had as its objectives an increase in academic achievement motivation, internal feelings of control, and school performance. Results indicate that significant differences existed between experimental and control groups in achievement motivation and internal feelings of control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing models of school learning: Effects of quality of instruction, motivation, academic coursework, and homework on academic achievement.

Tested the influence of ability, time, quality of instruction, motivation, and academic coursework on students' achievement, controlling for relevant background variables. Structural equation models were analyzed with longitudinal data from a national sample of 25,875 high school students. Intellectual ability and academic coursework had direct effects on achievement, and homework had a smaller direct effect. The indirect effects of quality of instruction and motivation were stronger than their direct effects; quality affected motivation, which affected coursework. Supplemental analyses were consistent with the initial findings. Results support these variables as influences on school learning, and support the theories from which the variables were derived. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Need achievement training with grade-nine students.

To examine the effect of achievement motivation training on academic achievement, 81 students were given a 15-wk need achievement training course as part of their regular curriculum during the 1st semester of Grade 9. They were compared with 108 Grade-9 students in another school who did not receive the course. The difference in mean change in language arts and science was not significant, while the mean change in need achievement, mathematics, social studies, and academic average was significant and in the predicted direction. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A motivational environment for behaviorally deviant junior high school students

A contingency management program was established in a junior high school to better manage and educate students having histories of severe misconduct. School administration selected 46 eighth-graders having multiple suspensions for misbehavior. Students (N = 32) in two of the schools remained in traditional programs, serving as controls, whereas students (N = 14) in the third school participated in a token reinforcement program. Reinforcers provided in the afternoon were contingent upon achievement and discipline during morning academic periods. Home-based reinforcers were established to support school behavior. Compared with the control group, significant reductions in negative school behavior as well as greater increases in academic achievement were obtained for the treatment group, thus supporting the efficacy of contingency management for adolescents school misbehavior.     

Perceptions of Parental Involvement and Support as Predictors of College Students' Persistence in a Science Curriculum.

As technological and scientific skills are increasingly needed, finding that science students encounter significant problems in their academic program causes serious concern. The authors examined how perceived parental involvement and support predict college students' persistence in science based on J. P. Connell and J. G. Wellborn's (1991) theoretical model: Perceived parental involvement and support should foster student persistence by promoting students' competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Results suggest that perceived parental autonomy supports predicted scientific persistence partly through students' autonomy. Perceived parental involvement, although unrelated to persistence, was a significant predictor of autonomy and relatedness. Results suggest that perceived parental involvement and support have specific roles in predicting student self-processes and achievement, highlighting the importance of sustaining parents' contribution for college students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of eighth graders' family structure, gender, and family environment with academic performance and school behavior.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 80(3) of Journal of Educational Psychology (see record 2008-10692-001). Table 2 contained incorrect data. The first column of data contained correlations whose signs should have been reversed. The complete correct table appears in the erratum.] The purpose of this study was to assess how family structure, gender, and family environment were related to both academic performance (end-of-the-year grades and quantitative and verbal achievement factor scores) and school behavior (number of days absent, number of days tardy, and number of in-school detentions). Subjects were 219 middle-class eighth graders (96 boys, 123 girls). Generally, students in two-parent nuclear families had better academic performance and less problematic school behavior than did students in either mother-custody or stepfather families. Boys had more detentions than did girls. Despite significant differences among the three family structures, the family structure variable accounted at most for only 7% of the variability in academic performance and school behavior. A family environment that emphasized achievement and intellectual pursuits accounted for variability in end-of-the-year grades beyond that accounted for by family structure, gender, and family conflict. The joint consideration of family structure, gender, and family environment accounted at most for 17% of the variance in academic performance and school behavior. For students in the mother-custody and stepfather families, contact with father was unrelated to academic performance. Findings are discussed in terms of models of achievement motivation and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Relation of eighth graders' family structure, gender, and family environment with academic performance and school behavior": Correction to Kurdek and Sinclair.

Reports an error in "Relation of eighth graders' family structure, gender, and family environment with academic performance and school behavior" by Lawrence A. Kurdek and Ronald J. Sinclair (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1988[Mar], Vol 80[1], 90-94). Table 2 contained incorrect data. The first column of data contained correlations whose signs should have been reversed. The complete correct table appears in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1988-24801-001.) The purpose of this study was to assess how family structure, gender, and family environment were related to both academic performance (end-of-the-year grades and quantitative and verbal achievement factor scores) and school behavior (number of days absent, number of days tardy, and number of in-school detentions). Subjects were 219 middle-class eighth graders (96 boys, 123 girls). Generally, students in two-parent nuclear families had better academic performance and less problematic school behavior than did students in either mother-custody or stepfather families. Boys had more detentions than did girls. Despite significant differences among the three family structures, the family structure variable accounted at most for only 7% of the variability in academic performance and school behavior. A family environment that emphasized achievement and intellectual pursuits accounted for variability in end-of-the-year grades beyond that accounted for by family structure, gender, and family conflict. The joint consideration of family structure, gender, and family environment accounted at most for 17% of the variance in academic performance and school behavior. For students in the mother-custody and stepfather families, contact with father was unrelated to academic performance. Findings are discussed in terms of models of achievement motivation and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences and the development of perceived control

Research on individual differences demonstrates that children's perceived control exerts a strong effect on their academic achievement and that, in turn, children's actual school performance influences their sense of control. At the same time, developmental research shows systematic age-graded changes in the processes that children use to regulate and interpret control experiences. Drawing on both these perspectives, the current study examines (1) age differences in the operation of beliefs-performance cycles and (2) the effects of these cycles on the development of children's perceived control and classroom engagement from the third to the seventh grade. Longitudinal data on about 1,600 children were collected six times (every fall and spring) over 3 consecutive school years, including children's reports of their perceived control and individual interactions with teachers; teachers' reports of each student's engagement in class; and, for a subset of students, grades and achievement tests. Analyses of individual differences and individual growth curves (estimated using hierarchical linear modeling procedures) were consistent, not only with a cyclic model of context, self, action, and outcomes, but also with predictors of individual development over 5 years from grade 3 to grade 7. Children who experienced teachers as warm and contingent were more likely to develop optimal profiles of control; these beliefs supported more active engagement in the classroom, resulting in better academic performance; success in turn predicted the maintenance of optimistic beliefs about the effectiveness of effort. In contrast, children who experienced teachers as unsupportive were more likely to develop beliefs that emphasized external causes; these profiles of control predicted escalating classroom disaffection and lower scholastic achievement; in turn, these poor performances led children to increasingly doubt their own capacities and to believe even more strongly in the power of luck and unknown causes. Systematic age differences in analyses suggested that the aspects of control around which these cycles are organized change with development. The beliefs that regulated engagement shifted from effort to ability and from beliefs about the causes of school performance (strategy beliefs) to beliefs about the self's capacities. The feedback loop from individual performance to subsequent perceived control also became more pronounced and more focused on ability. These relatively linear developmental changes may have contributed to an abrupt decline in children's classroom engagement as they negotiated the transition to middle school and experienced losses in teacher support. Implications are discussed for future study of individual differences and development, especially the role of changing school contexts, mechanisms of influence, and developmentally appropriate interventions to optimize children's perceived control and engagement.     

Adolescents' perceptions of their parents' academic expectations: comparison of American, Chinese-American, and Chinese high school students

Cultural background not only influences family beliefs about the value of education, but may affect how academic expectations are communicated by parents and perceived by their children. This study examined differences in willingness to conform to parents' expectations of academic achievement as perceived by American, Chinese-American, and Chinese high school students. Findings indicated that Chinese students were more willing to accept their parents' advice and cared more about fulfilling academic expectations than did American students. Students in all three groups had similar feelings of independence. The views of Chinese-American students reflected the influence of both their Chinese heritage and the American culture in which they resided.     

Between- and within-domain relations of academic motivation among middle and high school students: Self-efficacy, task value, and achievement goals.

The author used confirmatory factor analysis to examine between-domain relations of self-efficacy, task-value, and achievement goal orientations among 424 Korean middle and high school students. All motivational constructs demonstrated strong subject specificity in both age groups. Strengths of between-domains differed substantially by individual constructs. Performance-approach and performance goals were highly correlated across domains, whereas task-value and mastery goals were more distinct across domains. Self-efficacy perceptions were moderately correlated across subjects. High school students' academic motivation was more differentiated than that of middle school students. Within-domain interrelations among these motivation constructs were generally consistent with previous research. More important, consistent patterns of relations were observed in four different academic domains within each age group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)