What type of work goals provide adolescents with the sense that schoolwork is important and that their lives are meaningful? This mixed-methods study of a diverse sample of 6th-, 9th-, and 12th-grade adolescents (N = 148) investigated the relationship between work goals, purpose, and meaning using a semistructured interview and a survey. Interview…

The current study tested models to determine the extent to which self-worth and social goals mediate the influence of ethnic identity on aggression among aggressive European and African American preadolescents. Ethnic identity emerged as important for both groups, but in different ways. Different patterns of influence of ethnic identity and of…

The authors proposed a model to explain how epistemological beliefs, achievement motivation, and learning approach related to achievement. The authors assumed that epistemological beliefs influence achievement indirectly through their effect on achievement motivation and learning approach. Participants were 1,041 6th-grade students. Results of the…

During the 2013-2014 academic year, the S.E.L.F. Foundation engaged 32 predominately at-risk students at Key Middle School (KMS) in afterschool tutorials and enrichment activities to support their academic, social, and emotional development. Outcome measures consisted of reading and mathematics performance before and after program implementation.…

The aim of this study was to examine students' performance calibration in physical education. One hundred fifth and sixth grade students provided estimations regarding their performance in a dribbling test after practicing dribbling for 16 minutes under different self-regulatory conditions (i.e., receiving feedback, setting goals, self-recording).…

This quantitative, causal-comparative study utilized ex post facto data to examine the impact of education support advisors (ESAs) on the discipline, attendance, and achievement of at-risk students in Grades 3-12. Fourteen education support advisors working in 16 elementary and 8 secondary schools of this mid-Atlantic school district consistently…

Achievement goal theory distinguishes between mastery goals (the goals of developing competence) and performance goals (the goals of demonstrating competence) [Ames [1992] "Journal of Educational Psychology" 84: 261-271]. In this study, we employed this theory aiming to better understand why adolescents' motivation to learn science…

Background: Motivational interference is defined as the amount of impairment in a target activity due to the incentives of a non-chosen attractive alternative. The amount to which pupils experience motivational interference while studying or while performing a leisure activity in a school-leisure conflict situation is seen as depending on the…

Reduction in performance level following on from brief periods of self-control is referred to as ego depletion. This study aimed to investigate if a brief ego depletion experience would impact upon primary school students working through an online mathematics exercise involving 40 computational trials. Seventy-two students participated in the…

In two cross-sectional studies, we investigated to what extent elementary (Study 1) and middle school (Study 2) students pursue similar, yet distinct, mastery-related and performance-related goals in physical education. We found that students were more likely to endorse outcome goals in conjunction with mastery-related goals and ability goals in…

The Latino population in the United States is increasing rapidly, and Latino youth comprise a significant proportion of the overall school-age population. Latino youth, however, demonstrate lower levels of academic achievement. Research also indicates Latino youth consistently report higher levels of depressive symptoms. We examined the relation…

We investigated: (a) the associations of implicit theories and epistemological beliefs and their effects on the academic motivation and achievement of students in Grade 6 science and (b) the mean differences of implicit theories, epistemological beliefs, and academic motivation and achievement as a function of gender and race/ethnicity (N=508).…

The teaching and learning of mathematics in schools has drawn tremendous attention since the education reform in Taiwan. In addition to assessing cognitive abilities, Taiwan Assessment of Student Achievement in Mathematics (TASA-MAT) collects background information to help depict average student achievement in schools in an educational context.…

Young adolescents' perceptions of teachers' and peers' multiple classroom supports were examined in relation to motivational outcomes (interest and social goal pursuit). Responses from sixth (n = 120), seventh (n = 115), and eighth (n = 123) grade students concerning four dimensions of support (expectations for specific behavioral and academic…

This is a mix methods follow-up study in which we reconfirm the findings from an earlier study [Vedder-Weiss & Fortus [2011] "Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48(2)", 199-216]. The findings indicate that adolescents' declining motivation to learn science, which was found in many previous studies [Galton [2009] "Moving to…