Motivation and Achievement in Early Adolescence

Abstract

This study examines the multiple goals that students try to achieve at school and their relations to academic performance. In all, 423 sixth- and seventh-grade students reported efforts to achieve mastery, evaluation, and social responsibility goals. Causal belief systems were assessed by asking students to choose one of three reasons why they try to earn good grades. Pursuit of all three classroom goals was related significantly and positively to students' grades, although evaluation and social goals were stronger predictors of grades than were mastery goals. Causal belief systems were related significantly to both classroom grades and standardized test scores over time, and students who reported earning grades because learning is fun and exciting (mastery-oriented beliefs) earned the highest grades. The role of social goals in promoting academic achievement and the importance of making a distinction between goals and processes that regulate goal pursuit are discussed.