High school students' expectancy, value, and cost profiles and their relations with engagement and achievement in Math and English

Abstract

Based on situated expectancy-value theory, we aimed to investigate the latent profiles of high school students' expectancy, value, and cost beliefs in math and English domains using a person-centered approach. In addition, we compared student profiles regarding academic outcomes and personal characteristics. Latent profile analyses based on a sample of 1521 Chinese senior high school students identified five profiles: adaptive, moderately motivated, high cost, less motivated, and maladaptive. Profile patterns were highly consistent across the math and English domains. Furthermore, there were significant differences in students' engagement and achievement among the five latent profiles. These five profiles also demonstrated meaningful associations with student characteristics, including gender and socioeconomic status. Findings of the present study suggest the importance of taking into consideration of students' expectancy, value, and cost beliefs together to better understand their motivational dynamics in school.