(How) do self-concept, interest, and conscientiousness function together in academic motivation? A typological approach developed and replicated in two large-scale samples

Abstract

BackgroundFollowing a call for integrative attempts to study academic motivation, we apply a typological approach. AimTo identify and replicate naturally existing combinations of general academic self-concept, school interest, and conscientiousness. SampleTwo national representative samples of Luxembourgish 9th grade students (N > 12,000). MethodLatent profile analysis (LPA) to identify motivation profiles, as well as BCH method and R3STEP approach to relate profiles to academic adjustment and background variables. ResultsLPA's revealed six robust motivation profiles, three of which mainly reflect differences in students' general motivation level (i.e., “Highly motivated”, “Lowly motivated”, and “Amotivated” students). In line with the assumption of synergistic motivation processes in expectancy and value, these differences in motivation strength were reflected uniformly in different indicators of academic adjustment (e.g., standardized test scores and school anxiety). However, we also replicated three profiles whose nature and relation to academic adjustment point to compensatory and interference processes of motivation. While “Self-confident” students, who are characterized by a high general academic self-concept only, showed a better academic achievement as would have been expected by their motivation level, “Unconfident” students showed a rather poor academic adjustment, despite a relatively high interest in schooling and a high conscientiousness. In addition, we found some evidence that for “Conscientiously motivated” students, being highly conscientious may compensate for relatively low interest, seemingly at the cost of relatively high school anxiety. ConclusionOur typological approach complements previous variable- and person-oriented research on the interplay between expectancy beliefs, value beliefs, and conscientiousness.