Academic achievement in preadolescence: The role of motivational, affective, and self-regulatory processes

Abstract

To address the need for multivariate research on the social competencies associated with school success, this study investigated the concurrent effects of motivational, affective, and self-regulatory processes on academic achievement in preadolescence. Two ways in which these factors may influence academic achievement were investigated. First, it was hypothesized that student reports of low distress and high school motivation would be positively related to classroom achievement by way of their association with self-restraint. In contrast, it was hypothesized that teachers' evaluations of students' low distress and high restraint would be positively related to achievement through their association with students' school motivation. For each model, both classroom grades and standardized test scores were used as indices of academic achievement. Based on a sample of 163 sixth-grade students, results of hierarchical regression analyses generally confirmed the hypothesized models. These results suggest that motivational, affective, and self-regulatory factors play an important role in the achievement of academic competence, both as intrapersonal processes and as behavioral manifestations of student efforts to achieve.