Mastery Motivation and Cognitive Development: A Longitudinal Study from Infancy to 34 Years of Age

Abstract

Thirty-five children who had participated in an intensive study of mastery motivation at 1 year of age were reevaluated at 32 years. At each age, the children's level of mastery motivation and cognitive functioning were assessed with both global and differentiated measures. Several structured tasks were developed to assess mastery motivation. In addition to the assessments at 1 year and 32 years, Bayley scores from 6 months of age were available for nearly half the children. The findings differed for boys and girls. For boys, some continuity was found in mastery motivation between 1 and 32 years; for girls, no continuity in mastery motivation was found but early mastery motivation predicted later cognitive functioning. Early vocalization (at both 6 and 12 months) was significantly related to later verbal abilities for boys. These findings indicate that developmental continuities can be found in the early years of life but only when a wide range of behaviors in the cognitive-motivational domain is examined.