Achievement motivation in high achieving Latina women

Abstract

This study investigated achievement motivation in high achieving, Latina women. Sixty‐three Latina women (43 doctoral graduates, 20 completers of doctoral course work) were administered the Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire (WOFO) (Helmreich & Spence, 1978), Sex‐Role Traditionalism Scale (SRTS) (Soto, 1979), Fear‐of‐Success Scale (FOSS) (Cohen, 1974) and a demographic questionnaire. A 90‐minute interview was conducted on a subsample of 10 of these women. Varying strengths in intrinsic achievement motives of mastery, work, competitiveness, and personal unconcern; low levels of sex‐role traditionalism (SRT); and low to average levels of fear of success (FOS) were quantitatively supported in the overall sample. The motives of work and mastery, and an extrinsic motive of generativity, as well as a range of SRT, emerged prominently from the subsample. Various affective, behavioral and cognitive manifestations of FOS, and negative consequences associated with SRT and FOS were qualitatively indicated. A ...