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Transition of academic motivation profiles and its relationship with academic outcomes, perceived parenting, and self-regulated emotion strategies
Inspired by self-determination theory (SDT), the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) was developed to measure students’ learning motivation. While the AMS has been widely validated and used in educational contexts, it has generally overlooked the domain-specific nature of academic motivation, particularly in learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in China, home to the world’s largest population of EFL learners. This study sought to adapt the AMS and substantiate its validity using both within-network and between-network approaches with a sample of 1,390 Chinese secondary EFL learners. Results from item analysis, internal consistency, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the 28-item EFL-specific AMS exhibits robust psychometric properties, characterised by a seven-factor structure, and demonstrates invariance across gender and grade levels. Structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses further indicated that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations are positively correlated with perceived teacher support, engagement, and achievement, whereas amotivation is inversely associated with these outcomes. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are also discussed.
In this study, we used a cross-lagged design to explore the relationship between children’s self-regulation and positive parenting behaviors. Children aged 3 years (N = 84) were tested individually three times a year for their hot and cool self-regulation, while their parents’ positive parenting behaviors (warmth, structure, and autonomy support) were collected through questionnaires. In the structural equation panel model, bidirectional relations between children’s inhibitory control and parental positive parenting were found. Children’s inhibitory control and positive parenting predicted changes in each other for the first six months. Such a reciprocal relationship also existed between parental autonomy support and children’s inhibitory control. There was a cross-lagged effect between parental warmth and children’ inhibitory control rather than a simultaneous relation. Children’s inhibitory control positively predicted parental structural behaviors rather than vice versa. Children’s delayed waiting and positive parenting (autonomy support) were only positively correlated, rather than having a lagging effect. All the relationships faded over time.
T his study examined the long-term reciprocal impact of two key emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, on the subjective well-being of migrant and non-migrant adolescents in urban China. A total of 2397 middle school students from urban China (864 migrant, M age = 13.05 years, SD = 0.62, 41.7% girls; 1533 non-migrant, M age = 13.01 years, SD = 0.47, 50.1% girls) were followed from 2016 to 2017. Data on the two emotion regulation strategies (measured using the Chinese version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire) and subjective well-being (measured using the Subjective Well-Being Inventory) were collected. Although no differences were found in the use of cognitive reappraisal, migrant adolescents reported greater use of expressive suppression than non-migrant adolescents. Furthermore, a two-group cross-lagged panel analysis showed that cognitive reappraisal positively predicted subjective well-being among both migrant and non-migrant adolescents, whereas expressive suppression was positively related to subjective well-being in only migrant adolescents. Migrant adolescents with higher levels of subjective well-being jointly used cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, while non-migrant adolescents were prone to only using cognitive reappraisal. These findings indicate that group-level context influences both the utilisation and functionality of emotion regulation strategies among migrant and non-migrant adolescents in urban China.
Emotion regulation has been a central research topic in developmental psychology and psychopathology for several decades. Habitual use of adaptive (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) or maladaptive strategies (e.g., expressive suppression) may influence psychosocial adjustment in children and adolescents. Despite consensus on the influence of culture on emotion regulation, little is known about cultural differences in emotion regulation in children and adolescents. In this study, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA) was used and tested for its measurement invariance between Chinese and German children and adolescents. Cultural similarities and differences in the use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression were examined, as well as the associations of these strategies with behavior problems and prosocial behavior. The sample consisted of 765 Chinese and 431 German students (Mage = 12.46 years, SD = 1.12). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis revealed partial scalar measurement invariance of the ERQ-CA. A latent mean comparison showed more frequent use of both strategies in Chinese compared to German students. The results of the multi-group structural equation model showed similar patterns of relationships between emotion regulation strategies and youth behavior across groups. Cognitive reappraisal was associated with fewer behavior problems and more prosocial behavior, whereas expressive suppression was related to more behavior problems. In summary, the current findings indicate that the ERQ-CA allows comparisons of emotion regulation between Chinese and German children and adolescents. Furthermore, the relevance of the cultural context for emotion regulation and the promotion of adaptive regulation strategies is highlighted.
The research examined the relationship between supportive parenting styles (warmth, structure, and autonomy support) and emotional well-being and whether they are mediated by basic psychological need satisfaction. It also explores thwarting parenting styles (rejection, chaos, and coercion) that may be associated with emotional ill-being, mediated by basic psychological needs frustration. This study involved 394 Indonesian adolescents aged 11–15 years old (49.5% boys, 50.5% girls) as the participants. We employed the structural equation model (SEM) analysis to evaluate the hypotheses. The research found that basic psychological needs satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between supportive parenting styles and emotional well-being; basic psychological needs frustration fully mediated the relationship between thwarting parenting styles and emotional ill-being (Chi-Square = 434.39; df = 220; p = 0.000; RMSEA = 0.05; CFI = 0.91; GFI = 0.91; SRMR = 0.05). Interestingly, the findings indicate that the thwarting parenting style positively influences basic psychological needs satisfaction. The research concludes that supportive parenting enhances the well-being of adolescents by satisfying their basic psychological needs. However, thwarting parental behaviors did not forestall the satisfaction of needs. The way Indonesian adolescents perceived the thwarting parenting style was discussed.
Despite a general consensus on the negative consequences of emotion suppression in Western cultures, cross-cultural explorations to date have yielded many inconsistencies on whether such phenomena can be generalized to Eastern cultures. A set of two studies were conducted to examine the role of emotional valence in resolving such inconsistencies on both relationship satisfaction and subjective well-being. In accordance with our hypotheses, our results consistently revealed that the habitual suppression of emotions was associated with lower relationship satisfaction and subjective well-being, regardless of valence, for American participants. However, the effects of emotion suppression significantly varied by valence for Korean participants, such that suppressing negative emotions was less detrimental than suppressing positive emotions. Overall, the present study highlights the importance of considering the nature of different emotions and cultural contexts when examining the adaptiveness of emotion regulation strategies on individuals’ interpersonal and intrapersonal well-being.
There to date exists limited research on how emotion regulation shapes students’ emotional experiences and academic development in higher education. The purpose of this study was to address this gap by examining how students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) degree programs (N = 174) use emotion regulation strategies related to their achievement emotions, approaches to learning, and exam performance. Data was collected across four phases pertaining to a required STEM course at the beginning of the semester, while studying for a midterm exam, and within 48 h following the exam. Results suggested that while emotion regulation while studying did not predict students’ emotions more than control and value appraisals, their emotion regulation specific to the exam predicted their emotions above and beyond control and value appraisals. Findings also showed cognitive reappraisal to correspond with more positive emotions, less negative emotions, more complex approaches to learning, and better exam performance. Conversely, suppression was associated with poorer exam performance. Results additionally showed that associations between cognitive reappraisal and emotions were stronger during exams than while studying. Overall, these findings indicate that how post-secondary students choose to regulate their emotions in STEM degree programs has important implications for how they feel, learn, and perform.
The pursuit of learning in high school generally draws on multiple sources of motivation that could be affected by learning contexts and cultural values about education. We conducted this study to capture the complex interplay between various motivational regulation strategies across countries. Our goal was threefold: (1) to identify high-schoolers’ motivation profiles using the seven types of regulation strategies proposed by the Self-Determination Theory; (2) to investigate the role of parenting practices and youth’s mental health in predicting profile membership, and (3) to investigate whether motivation profiles and their associated predictors are replicated across two cross-national samples (435 Canadian and 414 Belgian adolescents), and across two consecutive school years. Participants completed self-report questionnaires at two time points over one year. Latent profile analysis revealed three school motivation profiles that differ on quantity and quality of motivation: high quantity (highest intrinsic and extrinsic, lowest amotivation), moderately motivated (moderate intrinsic, high extrinsic, low amotivation) and poor quality (lowest intrinsic, moderately high extrinsic, highest amotivation). Youth reporting high levels of positive parenting practices (need support, warmth, monitoring) and low level of externalizing behaviors were more likely to be categorized in the high quantity than in the other two motivation profiles. The structure of the three profiles and the relationships between predictors and profile membership were generally replicated across the two samples and the two school years. The generalizability of our three-profile solution and the importance of a positive family environment and mental health in the development of school motivation in adolescence are discussed.
This study was designed to investigate academic motivation profiles (and their similarity) among distinct samples of high school students. Anchored in recent developments in Self-Determination Theory, these profiles were estimated while considering both the global and specific nature of academic motivation. The role of fixed mindsets and parenting practices in predicting profile membership, as well as the implications of these profiles for several outcomes, were also investigated. Latent profile analysis revealed five profiles (Weakly Motivated, Moderately Motivated, Self-Determined, Amotivated, and Strongly Motivated) differing in global and specific motivation levels. Fixed mindset was weakly related to profile membership, perceived parenting practices showed more widespread associations. Most desirable outcomes were linked to the Self-Determined and Strongly Motivated profiles, and then to the Moderately Motivated, Weakly Motivated, and Amotivated profiles
In this synthesis, we examined and assessed the impact of self-regulated instructional components on the motivation of students with or at risk for learning disabilities (LD) in reading, writing, or mathematics intervention studies. Elements such as goal setting, self-monitoring for task completion, self-monitoring for emotions, self-talk for task completion, self-talk for emotions, and self-talk for progress monitoring were identified as relevant constructs, and were further examined to determine their effect on students’ motivation for learning and academic functioning. Results indicated major differences in the application of these self-regulated instructional components across academic domains. Quantitative analyses also revealed that interventions with self-regulated instructional components resulted in positive effects on motivation measures such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, attributions, value for task, affect, expectancy for success, and intrinsic motivation. Finally, our findings have practical implications for struggling learners, as goal setting and self-talk, for task completion or for progress monitoring, seem especially likely to improve the likelihood that struggling learners will demonstrate positive gains in motivation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation. Participants from 87 countries and regions (n = 21,644) were randomly assigned to one of two brief reappraisal interventions (reconstrual or repurposing) or one of two control conditions (active or passive). Results revealed that both reappraisal interventions (vesus both control conditions) consistently reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions across different measures. Reconstrual and repurposing interventions had similar effects. Importantly, planned exploratory analyses indicated that reappraisal interventions did not reduce intentions to practice preventive health behaviours. The findings demonstrate the viability of creating scalable, low-cost interventions for use around the world.
Protocol registration
The stage 1 protocol for this Registered Report was accepted in principle on 12 May 2020. The protocol, as accepted by the journal, can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4878591.v1
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
The study identified 6 groups of high-school students who possess unique motivational characteristics, ranging from amotivated to externally regulated, balanced demotivated, moderately motivated, balanced motivated, and autonomously motivated. The results showed that the changes in high-school students’ motivation were more complex than an increase or a decrease in the level of motivation. Students moved from having 1 set of motivational characteristics to another set of motivational characteristics across 2 academic years. School belongingness and prior achievement level were positively associated to motivation shifting toward more adaptive characteristics. Understanding the patterns and predictive factors of motivational change can better inform teachers and school administers to generate strategies that support students’ motivation development as a whole, shifting to increasingly adaptive motivational profiles over time. As there are few longitudinal person-centered studies of motivation situated in high school settings, the current study adds to practical knowledge about the mechanism of students’ motivation development at this crucial juncture in their academic career.
Introduction
Self‐directed learning (SDL) fosters adolescents' needs satisfaction. According to self‐determination theory, meeting adolescents' needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness is essential for their motivation. However, students' needs satisfaction and motivation tend to decrease during adolescence and the rate of decrease varies by gender. Prior research within the self‐determination theory literature has described adolescents in traditional teacher‐directed learning (TDL) contexts, but little research has examined decreases in adolescents' needs satisfaction and motivation or gender‐based differences among adolescents in SDL interventions.
Methods
The present two‐wave study compared questionnaire data from German adolescent boys and girls (N = 754; Mage = 13.56; SD = 1.2; 49.4% girls) who attended an SDL intervention. To investigate possible gender‐based differences in the interplay and extend of the variables, two multi‐group structural equation model (multigroup SEM) and latent mean comparison (LMC) were programmed.
Results & Conclusions
Boys reported higher values only for introjected and extrinsic regulation. With two different restricted multigroup SEMs, the present study detected additional gender‐based differences. For example, the paths between autonomy and intrinsic and identified motivation were stronger for boys than for girls, and competence was only associated with intrinsic motivation among girls. Overall, these findings suggest that fewer gender‐based differences exist in needs satisfaction and academic self‐regulation in an SDL intervention than have been observed in previous research in TDL contexts. Further, adolescents' needs satisfaction was explicitly associated with higher forms of academic motivation (i.e., intrinsic and identified).
While some attention has been devoted to the study of emotions in vocational psychology, research on the emotional anticipation of future career events is scarce. Using latent transition analysis, we investigated profiles of anticipatory emotions at the prospect of the transition to higher education during the last year of high school. We also investigated two career-related antecedents of profile membership and transitions between profiles: career decidedness and career adaptability. Our results shed light on three distinct profiles. First, most students experienced mostly positive anticipatory emotions with few negative anticipatory emotions (i.e., a positive dominant profile). Second, students in the mixed emotions profile displayed high levels of both positive and negative anticipatory emotions. Third, students in the negative dominant profile experienced mostly negative anticipatory emotions. Our results also showed that the positive dominant profile was relatively stable and that the mixed and the negative dominant profiles related to more transitions across time. With regard to the antecedents, our results demonstrated that students with higher career decidedness and career adaptability were more likely to belong to the positive dominant profile. When looking at transitions between profiles, students with high career decidedness and career adaptability were more likely to remain in or transition to the positive dominant profile. Identifying students with different anticipatory emotions profiles and the nature of transitions between these profiles have implications for implementing tailored career interventions and educational practices.
Student outcomes are influenced by different types of motivation that stem from external incentives, ego-involvement, personal value, and intrinsic interest. These types of motivation as described in self-determination theory each co-occur to different degrees and should lead to different consequences. These associations with outcomes are in part due to unique characteristics and in part to the degree of autonomy each entails. In the current meta-analysis, we examine these different types of motivation in 344 samples (223,209 participants) as they relate to 26 performance, well-being, goal orientation, and persistence-related student outcomes. Findings highlight that intrinsic motivation is related to student success and well-being, whereas personal value (identified regulation) is particularly highly related to persistence. Ego-involved motives (introjected regulation) were positively related to persistence and performance goals, but also positively related with indicators of ill-being. Motivation driven by a desire to obtain rewards or avoid punishment (external regulation) was not associated to performance or persistence but was associated with decreased well-being. Finally, amotivation was related to poor outcomes. Relative weights analysis further estimates the degree to which motivation types uniquely predict outcomes, highlighting that identified regulation and intrinsic motivation are likely key factors for school adjustment.
Based on an accelerated longitudinal design involving three cohorts of secondary school students followed during 3 consecutive school years, this study had three main objectives. First, we sought to identify different profiles of students following distinct trajectories of self-determined motivation over the secondary school years. Second, we examined whether different sources of relatedness (father, mother, teachers, peers) predict membership to these motivational trajectory profiles. Third, we looked at the consequences of these motivational trajectory profiles in terms of adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Nine hundred forty-one students (56.1% girls) from three distinct cohorts participated in the first measurement time (309 students initially in Secondary 1, 346 students initially in Secondary 2, 272 students initially in Secondary 3). Results revealed that no generic decline in global levels of self-determined motivation was observed during the secondary school years. Five distinct trajectory profiles in which the proportion of students varied were identified. The many comparisons made between these five profiles indicate few significant differences on sources of relatedness. However, teachers and fathers were important positive predictors of membership to the profiles characterized by higher self-determined trajectories, in addition to having a direct effect on initial levels of self-determined motivation observed within each profile (teachers) and on within-profile increases over time in global levels of self-determined motivation (teachers and fathers). Finally, students in profiles characterized by low self-determined motivation trajectories showed lower levels of adaptive outcomes and higher levels of maladaptive outcomes.
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a broad framework for understanding factors that facilitate or undermine intrinsic motivation, autonomous extrinsic motivation, and psychological wellness, all issues of direct relevance to educational settings. We review research from SDT showing that both intrinsic motivation and well-internalized (and thus autonomous) forms of extrinsic motivation predict an array of positive outcomes across varied educational levels and cultural contexts and are enhanced by supports for students’ basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Findings also show a dynamic link between teacher and student motivation, as teachers are themselves impacted and constrained by controlling mandates, institutional pressures, and leadership styles. Ironically, despite substantial evidence for the importance of psychological need satisfactions in learning contexts, many current educational policies and practices around the globe remain anchored in traditional motivational models that fail to support students’ and teachers’ needs, a knowledge versus policy gap we should aspire to close.
The aim of this study was to examine i) the prevalence of achievement goal orientation profiles among Finnish sixth- and seventh-graders (N = 419), ii) the stability and change in these profiles across the transition from elementary to lower secondary school, and iii) the profile differences in academic achievement (grades) and academic well-being (school engagement and school burnout). Using latent profile analysis, four goal orientation profiles were extracted: indifferent, success-oriented, mastery-oriented, and avoidance-oriented. Latent transition analysis confirmed that these profiles were stably identified over time. There was substantial stability in profiles: being assigned to the same group yielded the highest transition probabilities (0.63–0.75). Likely transitions were from success-oriented to indifferent and from indifferent to avoidance-oriented. Of those who transitioned, the majority moved from more to less favorable profiles. Students who stayed in the mastery-oriented group across the transition displayed the most adaptive pattern of motivation, academic achievement, and well-being.
Numerous theorists have offered opinions about motivational differences between learning a new language and other school subjects. At the same time, little empirical evidence for the differences has been brought forward. In this study, we aimed to address these motivational differences and similarities between learning a new (foreign) language and learning one's own language in formal school settings using the framework of self- determination theory. Rather than comparing variable level differences, we investigated a representative sample of Japanese secondary school students (n = 830) to demonstrate person-centered differences using latent profile analysis. Results indicated the sample was divided into five theoretically consistent subgroups, with similar patterns of motivation and achievement across language domains. Roughly 55% of the sample fit into the same subgroups for each subject, indicating that the majority of students' motivation for learning a language was similar across the two school subjects.
Objective: Motivation seems to be a fundamental indicator of long-term physical exercise adherence. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) argues that social environment plays a central role in the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, which might directly affect the quality of one's motivation. Individuals who appear to be more self-determined tend to persist longer at certain behaviors. Therefore, this body of work intends to analyze the relationship between motivational variables and behavioral outcomes in the exercise context, having as theoretical background the Self-Determination Theory.
Methods: This systematic review was conducted through an electronic search on Web of Science, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and PsycINFO. Data such as instruments, main predictors and results were collected from studies published between 1985 and 2018. A total of 35 empirical studies were considered for a detailed analysis.
Results: Results showed the relevance of autonomy support performed by exercise professionals, as well as the major contribution that these behaviors have toward the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, besides the inherent benefits of developing more autonomous regulations. According to the literature, few studies have analyzed interpersonal thwarting behavior and the way this relates to basic psychological needs' frustration. Nether less, there seems to be a negative relationship between less self-determined regulations and exercise practice.
Conclusion: Despite the existence of numerous cross-sectional studies that demonstrate positive correlations between SDT and behavioral outcomes in the exercise context, longitudinal research that analyzes all six dimensions of interpersonal behaviors and their relationship with persistence and adherence to exercise proves to be crucial. However, according to this review, interventions based on SDT appear to be fundamental when it comes to promote the maintenance of a long-term exercise practice.
Psychological factors have been implicated in STEM persistence but remain poorly understood. In particular, the role of self-regulation—the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional skills that allow individuals to work efficiently toward their desired goals, especially when under stress—has received minimal attention. Psychological factors may be particularly important for persistence by underrepresented minority (URM) students, many of whom face significant barriers to success in STEM. We examined the extent to which self-regulation predicts STEM persistence in 755 STEM students and whether minority status moderated self-regulation’s associations with STEM persistence. We found minimal differences in self-regulation styles between URM and nonunderrepresented minority students. Baseline cognitive-emotional self-regulation predicted intentions to persist in a science career, using alcohol and drugs to cope with stress predicted less persistence in STEM major across the year, and only URM status predicted end-of-year GPA. Cognitive-emotional self-regulation was more strongly related to intentions to persist for URMs, and use of humor coping was related to lower GPA especially for URMs. Future research is needed on self-regulation skills and students’ trajectories of STEM success.
The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal profiles of sport motivation using a three-wave design (beginning, middle, and end of the season) among a sample of 736 adolescent athletes involved in intensive training centers. We explored whether several subgroups of athletes representing distinct motivation profiles emerged from the analyses and whether athletes reporting various scores of satisfaction and thwarting of
basic psychological needs (BPNS and BPNT) at time 1 (T1) belonged to distinct motivational profiles at T1, T2, and T3. Results of latent profile transition analyses showed four different profiles: Highly self-determined, self-determined, moderate autonomous and controlled motivation, moderately self-determined (T1 and T2) and high autonomous and controlled motivation (T3) profiles. Moreover, the likelihood of belonging to particular profiles was significantly predicted by athletes’ BPNS and BPNT scores assessed at T1. Thus, a motivational profile approach may prove useful in understanding sport motivation as a dynamic system.
Parenting styles have significant influence on children’s academic motivation. In a sample composed of 226 Chinese 10th grade students and at least one respective parent (147 fathers and 165 mothers), we examined the relationship between parenting styles and students’ academic motivation by applying the self-determination theory (SDT)’s multidimensional perspective of motivation. Students’ academic motivation was assessed directly within the school environment. A questionnaire used to assess parenting styles was administered to the fathers and/or mothers of the students within the home. A path-analysis indicated, firstly, that mothers’ authoritative parenting styles were related to enhanced intrinsic motivation and identified regulation. Secondly, mothers’ authoritarian parenting styles were negatively related to introjected regulation and external regulation. Lastly, both mothers’ and fathers’ permissive parenting styles were positively related to external regulation.
Elementary school is as much about developing attitudes as competence. With this fact in mind, the Japanese national government established a plan to enhance elementary school students’ motivation for learning English. The success of this program has, however, not been empirically tested. This study aimed to assess the longitudinal, discrete development of Japanese elementary school students’ motivation for learning English as a foreign language. A cohort of 513 Japanese elementary students participated in the study across two years of school. Students responded to surveys regarding the quality of their motivation at three time points, and their engagement at two time points. Latent Profile Analysis followed by Latent Profile Transition Analysis was used to assess the sample for latent subgroups. With subgroups established at three time points, a Mover-Stayer model was tested to estimate the movement of students among the subgroups across three time points and two years of elementary school education. Three theoretically consistent latent subgroups were observed at each of the time points. Based on theory and past empirical research, the subgroups (presented from least to most adaptive) were labeled: Poor Quality, High Quantity, and Good Quality. Across the three measurements, an overall shift of students to higher quantity and quality motivational subgroups was observed. This study provides evidence that the low-stakes, high-interest approach currently undertaken may have the desired effect of improving students’ motivation to learn across two years of schooling. Implications for both practice and national policy are discussed.
The idea that test anxiety hurts performance is deeply ingrained in American culture and schools. However, researchers have found that it is actually worry about performance and anxiety—not bodily feelings of anxiety (emotionality)—that impairs performance. Drawing on this insight, anxiety reappraisal interventions encourage the view that anxiety can be neutral or even helpful. Initial evidence—largely from laboratory studies—suggests that these kinds of reappraisal interventions can improve student performance in mathematics. But can they do so in other domains and within the constraints of everyday classroom activities? If so, for whom and how? In an intervention study, we tested whether a minimal reappraisal message embedded in an email from course instructors could improve students’ academic experience and performance in an introductory college course. The night before their first exam, students received an e-mail that either did or did not include a paragraph designed to lead them to interpret exam anxiety as beneficial or at least neutral. First-year students, who experience greater test anxiety and are less certain about how to perform well, benefited from the reappraisal message, showing decreased worry and increased performance on the exam the next day as well as increased performance in the course overall. Mediation analyses revealed that the effect on overall course performance for first-year students was partially mediated by reduced exam worry and enhanced performance on the first exam. The message did not affect the performance of upper year students.
Academic procrastination is defined as a purposive delay of academic tasks that must be completed. Within the framework of the ecological model of resiliency, this study examined how ecological assets were related to academic procrastination among adolescents. Participants in the study were 577 adolescents (53.5% boys) from Shanghai, China. They completed measures of ecological assets, commitment to learning, and academic procrastination. Structural equation modeling revealed that, as predicted, ecological assets were negatively associated with academic procrastination. In addition, commitment to learning fully mediated the association between ecological assets and academic procrastination. Implications of the present findings are discussed.
This article gives an introduction to latent class, latent profile, and latent transition models for researchers interested in investigating individual differences in learning and development. The models allow analyzing how the observed heterogeneity in a group (e.g., individual differences in conceptual knowledge) can be traced back to underlying homogeneous subgroups (e.g., learners differing systematically in their developmental phases). The estimated parameters include a characteristic response pattern for each subgroup, and, in the case of longitudinal data, the probabilities of transitioning from one subgroup to another over time. This article describes the steps involved in using the models, gives practical examples, and discusses limitations and extensions. Overall, the models help to characterize heterogeneous learner populations, multidimensional learning outcomes, non-linear learning pathways, and changing relations between learning processes. The application of these models can therefore make a substantial contribution to our understanding of learning and individual differences.
Relatively little research drawing from self-determination theory has examined the links between controlling teaching environments and student motivation. To this end, two longitudinal studies were conducted to explore how students’ perceptions of controlling teaching behavior and experiences of psychological need frustration were associated with a number of motivation-related outcomes over a school year. Multilevel growth modeling indicated that changes in perceptions of controlling teaching positively related to changes in need frustration across the school year (Studies 1 & 2) which, in turn, negatively related to autonomous motivation and positively related to controlled motivation and amotivation in Study 1 (N = 419); and positively related to fear of failure, contingent self-worth, and challenge avoidance in Study 2 (N = 447). Significant indirect effects also supported the mediating role of need frustration. These findings reinforce the need for research on the negative motivational pathways which link controlling teaching to poor quality student motivation. Implications for teacher training are discussed.
The purpose of the current study was to identify the motivation profiles at the intraindividual level using a latent profile analyses (LPA) approach. A total of 1151 secondary school students aged 13 to 17 years old from Singapore took part in the study. Using LPA, four distinct motivational profiles were identified based on four motivation regulations. Profile 1 has very low introjected and low autonomous motivation (6% of sample). Profile 2 had high external and identified regulations and very low intrinsic regulation (10%). Profile 3 consisted of students with high identified and intrinsic regulations (51%). Profile 4 had moderately low identified and intrinsic regulations (33%). The results showed that the four profiles differed significantly in terms of effort, competence, value, and time spent on math beyond homework. The best profile (Profile 3) reported highest scores in effort, value, competence and time spent on Math beyond homework. The worst profile (Profile 1) reported lowest scores in all the four outcome variables.
Emotion regulation has been examined extensively with regard to important outcomes, including psychological and physical health. However, the literature includes many different emotion regulation strategies but little examination of how they relate to one another, making it difficult to interpret and synthesize findings. The goal of this meta-analysis was to examine the underlying structure of common emotion regulation strategies (i.e., acceptance, behavioral avoidance, distraction, experiential avoidance, expressive suppression, mindfulness, problem solving, reappraisal, rumination, worry), and to evaluate this structure in light of theoretical models of emotion regulation. We also examined how distress tolerance—an important emotion regulation ability —relates to strategy use. We conducted meta-analyses estimating the correlations between emotion regulation strategies (based on 331 samples and 670 effect sizes), as well as between distress tolerance and strategies. The resulting meta-analytic correlation matrix was submitted to confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses. None of the confirmatory models, based on prior theory, was an acceptable fit to the data. Exploratory factor analysis suggested that 3 underlying factors best characterized these data. Two factors—labeled Disengagement and Aversive Cognitive Perseveration—emerged as strongly correlated but distinct factors, with the latter consisting of putatively maladaptive strategies. The third factor, Adaptive Engagement, was a less unified factor and weakly related to the other 2 factors. Distress tolerance was most closely associated with low levels of repetitive negative thought and experiential avoidance, and high levels of acceptance and mindfulness. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings and applications to emotion regulation assessment.
The present study employed a person-oriented approach to (1) identify elementary school students’ self-concept and intrinsic value profiles across the subjects Finnish language, mathematics and science and to examine (2) the stability and change of these motivational profiles from 2nd to 3rd grade, (3) gender differences in profile membership as well as (4) the relation to students’ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) occupational aspirations. Based on data from 383 Finnish students (56.7% girls) three profiles were identified: High motivation across all three subjects, low motivation across all subjects, and a math-motivated profile with low motivation in the other two subjects. Latent transition analyses revealed moderate stability, particularly in the high motivation profile. Girls were less likely to be and to remain in the math-motivated profile, but they were more likely than boys to remain in the high motivation profile. The math-motivated profile transition pattern was associated with students’ STEM occupational aspirations.
Fulltext: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1c8zA,8E164KY0
The Academic Intrinsic Motivation Scale (AIMS) measures key components of student intrinsic motivation (IM). We investigate score validity and reliability of a downward extension of the AIMS developed for students in the high school context using a sample of students from the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Through classical test theory, this study documents the scale’s (1) item difficulty and discrimination, (2) underlying factor structure and score reliability via confirmatory factor analysis and omega coefficients, and (3) relationship with the theoretically related variables student retention, achievement, and teamwork ability. Findings support scoring, generalizability, and extrapolation inferences for the downward extension of the AIMS in a high school sample. Implications for additional psychometric validity evidence are discussed.
The habitual use of expressive suppression (suppression frequency) is consistently associated with a number of negative outcomes, but paradoxically, the ability to suppress when there is a situational need (suppression ability) is usually linked to positive outcomes. The two sides of the paradox, suppression frequency and suppression ability, have been found to be unrelated. Given that these findings have emerged in largely western samples, the present studies examined whether the coupling of suppression frequency and ability depends on cultural contexts, and whether this can explain the previously established cultural difference in the costs of suppression frequency. In an initial study, we examined the relations among suppression frequency, suppression ability, and depression in a Chinese sample (Study 1; N = 310), and then, using two new samples, we compared these relations between Chinese and the US samples (Study 2; N = 392). Results showed that suppression frequency was related to depression in two distinct ways. In both cultures, suppression frequency had a direct, positive association with depression. In Chinese culture only, however, suppression frequency also had an indirect association, such that higher suppression frequency was related to higher suppression ability and in turn related to fewer depressive symptoms. Our findings show that suppression frequency is related to suppression ability only among Chinese participants, and can serve as a potential explanation for why suppression frequency is less related to depression in Chinese culture.
This study examined the relationship among motivation, engagement, and academic performance through a person-centered research approach. Participants included 10,527 students in grades 9 to 12 from twenty public high schools across the state of Ohio in the United States. Latent profile analysis revealed seven profiles of academic motivation including the amotivated, externally regulated, balanced demotivated, moderately motivated, identified/externally regulated, balanced motivated, and autonomously motivated profile groups. Students in these motivational profiles exhibited differences in cognitive and social engagement, as well as academic performance. In addition, multiple-group path analysis revealed different patterns of relationship among cognitive engagement, social engagement, and GPA, suggesting that motivational profile membership moderated the relationship between engagement and academic performance.
The academic success of Chinese students has drawn much attention from researchers and the public. Evidence suggests that Chinese parents’ learning‐related practices contribute to their children’s high achievement, but what motivates these practices? In this article, we address this question by focusing on Chinese parents’ beliefs, which can serve as a framework that guides their practices. First, we review recent research on Chinese parents’ learning‐related practices as well as their beliefs about children’s learning and parenting. Then, we consider how these beliefs, which are constantly shaped by the cultural and social context, may underlie Chinese parents’ learning‐related practices. We conclude by discussing directions for research in a changing world.
Objective:
For Chinese students, learning is seen as their duty and obligation to the society and their parents. Thus, in contrast to the Western students, the effects of extrinsic motivation on academic performance may not necessarily be always negative. The present study examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as their multiplicative effect among Chinese students.
Method:
A total of 13,799 students in China were followed longitudinally in three waves (Grade 10, beginning of school year, mid-year, and end-of-year; 5 month interval each). The main and multiplicative effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations were used to predict academic growth in a latent growth model.
Results:
The multiplicative effect between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations showed that extrinsic motivation was detrimental to academic performance for students with high intrinsic motivation. For students with low intrinsic motivation, however, the extrinsic motivation helped to improve academic performance. Worth noting, intrinsic motivation also had a moderate positive effect on academic performance.
Conclusion:
For Chinese learners, interest is not the only key motive to learn. Extrinsic reasons could facilitate students' learning when they are not interested in the subject. Extrinsic motivation harms only for highly intrinsically motivated students.
This study examines profiles of undergraduate students defined based on their types of behavioral regulation, as proposed by self-determination theory, as well as the similarity of these academic motivation profiles as a function of gender and age. This research also documents the implications of these profiles for students’ vitality and investigates the role of maternal and paternal involvement, autonomy support, and warmth in predicting profile membership. A total of 1072 undergraduate students participated in this study (Mage = 22.7 years; 58.4% female). To test for profile similarity, participants were divided into three age categories. Latent profile analyses revealed five distinct motivation profiles: Knowledge-Oriented, Controlled, Multifaceted, Unmotivated, and Hedonist profiles. These profiles, as well as their associations with the covariates, were similar across gender and age groups. Students’ level of vitality varied across profiles and was higher in the Hedonist and Knowledge-Oriented profiles, whereas both parents’ warmth predicted membership in profiles characterized by high levels of intrinsic motivation.
Manipulating motivational factors is an effective method for increasing desired behavior and reducing problematic behavior, as well as for increasing satisfaction from desired but challenging actions. From the Relational Frame Theory (RFT) perspective, hierarchical networks of symbolic positive reinforcers are advantageous motivators as they provide intrinsic, overarching, and inexhaustible reinforcement to our actions, even when they cause some degree of distress. The current study aimed to investigate how motivation based on hierarchical versus conditional versus a mixed (hierarchical and conditional) framing impacts performance and psychological experiences in a distress tolerance task. Participants completed an anagram task, followed by the presentation of scripts relating to three separate framing conditions. Participants then proceeded to take part in an adapted PASAT-C to measure task persistence, followed by completion of self-report measures evaluating mood, self-efficacy, and experiences of task participation. A final anagram task was completed to evaluate the effect of framing condition on task performance and transfer of framing conditions across different tasks. Hierarchical and mixed groups out-performed the conditional group on measures of task performance and persistence. This effect was transferred to performance on the anagram task. Significantly increased self-efficacy, com-fortableness, and willingness were observed for both the hierarchical and mixed conditions over the conditional group with the hierarchical group outperforming the mixed group. This study highlights the potential differing effects that framing tasks conditionally, hierarchically or both hierarchically and conditionally can have on motivation and task performance.
The research examines possible differences in the mutual reinforcement (i.e. multiplicative) effect between intrinsic and instrumental motivation on academic performance across different cultures. Eight representative countries and economies from two large‐scale databases—the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012—were used, respectively. Results showed that among the Confucian economies, instrumental motivation was more helpful in improving the mathematics performance of students with low intrinsic motivation than for those with high intrinsic motivation. This was shown by the multiplicative effect between intrinsic and instrumental motivation. Despite the difference, students in both Confucian and Western cultures with high intrinsic motivation had better mathematics performance than students with low intrinsic motivation.
Person-centered research has shown that individuals can be assigned to different motivational profiles, but only scattered studies have addressed motivational profiles in specific domains. We investigated the stability and change in motivational profiles in mathematics classrooms and examined how perceived teaching predicted changes in profile membership. Data for this study stemmed from the PISA-I Plus study (N = 6020). Latent profile analysis identified four motivational patterns: Medium, Low, High and Highly confident, hardly interested. Stability in profiles from grade 9 to 10 was typical. Instructional clarity and teaching for meaning predicted changes in profile membership.
This study investigated the role of temperamental anger in toddlerhood in the prediction of child socio-emotional functioning at school entry and the moderating function of mother–child interactions in these predictive associations. The sample included 86 children. To assess child temperamental anger, mothers and fathers completed the Anger proneness scale of the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire when children were aged 2 years. The quality of mother–child interactions was also assessed when children were 2 years old with the Mutually Responsive Orientation scale. Child internalizing, externalizing and prosocial behaviors were reported by parents in kindergarten and first grade with the Child Behavior Checklist and the Socio-Affective Profile. The results indicated that anger proneness predicted higher internalizing and externalizing behavior, and lower prosocial behavior. In the case of internalizing behavior, the effect of anger was qualified by an interaction with the quality of mother–child interaction: anger proneness predicted higher internalizing behavior only among children who had higher-quality interactions with their mothers. These findings suggest that simultaneous consideration of temperament and parent–child relationships early on in development may help identify children at risk for experiencing adjustment difficulties at school entry, allowing for prompt intervention before difficulties crystallize.
The important role of finite mixture models in the statistical analysis of data is underscored by the ever-increasing rate at which articles on mixture applications appear in the statistical and general scientific literature. The aim of this article is to provide an up-to-date account of the theory and methodological developments underlying the applications of finite mixture models. Because of their flexibility, mixture models are being increasingly exploited as a convenient, semiparametric way in which to model unknown distributional shapes. This is in addition to their obvious applications where there is group-structure in the data or where the aim is to explore the data for such structure, as in a cluster analysis. It has now been three decades since the publication of the monograph by McLachlan & Basford (1988) with an emphasis on the potential usefulness of mixture models for inference and clustering. Since then, mixture models have attracted the interest of many researchers and have found many new and interesting fields of application. Thus, the literature on mixture models has expanded enormously, and as a consequence, the bibliography here can only provide selected coverage.
Structural equation modeling was employed to test the direct and indirect effects of parent racial identity (i.e., private and public regard) on parents’ school trust, parent home and school involvement, and the academic persistence and preparation of their adolescent child. Participants were 515 African American parents (84% mothers, 42.6 years-old, SD = 7.7) of adolescents (54% girls, 13.7 years-old, SD = 1.4). Parent private regard had a positive direct effect on parent home involvement, yet no other private regard effects were evidenced in our model. Parent public regard was positively related to school trust, and through school trust public regard had a positive effect on parent home and school involvement, adolescent academic preparation and classroom persistence. Findings suggest that parent racial identity serves as a context for the attitudes/beliefs parents hold for mainstream institutions (i.e., schools) and the ways in which these attitudes/beliefs are associated with parent involvement behaviors and subsequently influence adolescent engagement and motivation. Implications and future directions are discussed.
Self-regulated learning (SRL) skills, such as accurate self-monitoring and regulation of restudy choices, are
important but difficult skills. Previous research has demonstrated that even when students were successfully
trained in self-monitoring and making study choices, large differences existed in students' ability to accurately
self-regulate their learning. One of the factors that might be associated with the effectiveness of SRL-skill training
is students' motivation for the specific task under study. In two studies with secondary education students it was
investigated if students' task-specific motivational profiles are associated with task-specific SRL skills after
training.
Furthermore, associations between motivation profiles with learning outcomes, mental effort, and self-efficacy
were examined. In Study 1a, latent profile analysis resulted in four motivational profiles: (1) poor quality, (2)
moderately positive, (3) moderately negative, and (4) good quality. Findings further showed that students with a
“good quality” motivational profile scored higher on monitoring accuracy and learning outcomes than students
with “poor quality” motivational profile. In Study 1b, similar motivational profiles were obtained as in Study 1a.
Results demonstrated that students with a “moderately positive” motivation profile showed higher monitoring
accuracy than students with a “poor quality” motivational profile. These findings show the importance of investigating
task-specific motivational profiles in relation to training self-monitoring and making study choices.
This longitudinal study examined the role of school attachment and three sources of relatedness (friends, parents, teachers) in predicting students’ intrinsic and identified regulation. A total of 946 high school students from disadvantaged neighborhoods completed self-report measures. Results of a CFA provided support for the distinctiveness of the sources of relatedness and school attachment. Results of SEM revealed that school attachment predicted intrinsic regulation, whereas relatedness to teachers predicted identified regulation. Relatedness to parents and friends did not explain a significant percentage of the variance in outcomes. All results were obtained while controlling for initial levels of the outcomes. In sum, students with low levels of intrinsic and identified regulation for learning activities may benefit from practices designed to increase school attachment and relatedness with their teachers.
This study examines profiles of University students defined based on the types of behavioral regulation proposed by self-determination theory (SDT), as well as the within-person and within-sample stability in these academic motivation profiles across a two-month period. This study also documents the implications of these profiles for students’ engagement, disengagement, and achievement, and investigates the role of self-oriented perfectionism in predicting profile membership. A sample of 504 first-year undergraduates completed all measures twice across a two-month period. Latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis revealed six distinct motivation profiles, which proved identical across measurement points. Membership into the Autonomous, Strongly Motivated, Poorly Motivated, and Controlled profiles was very stable over time, while membership into the Moderately Autonomous and Moderately Unmotivated profiles was moderately stable. Self-oriented perfectionism predicted a higher likelihood of membership into the Autonomous and Strongly Motivated profiles, and a lower likelihood of membership into the Controlled profile. The Autonomous, Strongly Motivated, and Moderately Autonomous profiles were associated with the most positive outcomes, while the Poorly Motivated and Controlled profiles were associated with the most negative outcomes. Of particular interest, the combination of high autonomous motivation and high controlled motivation (Strongly Motivated profile) was associated with positive outcomes, which showed that autonomous motivation was able to buffer even high levels of controlled motivation.
Using data from 1,571 ninth-grade students (Mage = 14.62) from 82 academic track schools in Germany and their predominantly Caucasian middle-class parents, configurations of different family characteristics reported by parents were investigated. Latent profile analyses considering academic involvement, family interest, parents’ self-concept, child's need for support, and parents’ time and energy identified average, indifferent, motivated and engaged, motivated and disengaged, and involved families. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with students’ motivational (self-concept, effort, and interest) and achievement outcomes (achievement test and grades) in math were analyzed. Students from families classified as motivated and disengaged showed higher initial levels motivation and achievement. Over 5 months, these students also showed an increase in self-concept and higher achievement than students from other family types.
Students experience a variety of emotions following achievement outcomes which stand to influence how they learn and perform in academic settings. However, little is known about the link between student outcome emotions and dimensions of performance feedback in computer-based learning environments (CBLEs). Understanding the dynamics of this relationship is particularly important for high-stakes, competency-based domains such as medical education. In this study, we examined the relationship between medical students’ (N = 30) outcome emotion profiles and their performance on a diagnostic reasoning task in the CBLE, BioWorld. We found that participants could be organized into distinct emotion groups using k-means cluster analyses based on their self-reported outcome emotion profiles: an expected positive emotion cluster and negative emotion cluster and an unexpected low intensity emotion cluster. A clear relationship was found between emotion clusters and diagnostic performance such that participants classified to the positive emotion cluster had the highest performance; those classified to the negative emotion cluster had the lowest performance; and those classified to the low intensity emotion cluster had performance outcomes that fell between the other two. Our discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of emotion classification and design recommendations for learning environments and emotional interventions in computer-based contexts.