Multiple Social and Academic Achievement Goals: Students’ Goal Profiles and Their Linkages

Abstract

Students’ engagement in class stems from academic and social motivations, which can be expressed through their academic and social achievement goals. Using a person-centered approach, we investigated the configurations of academic and social achievement goals and their relevance for aspects of students’ academic (achievement, self-concept, goal structures) and social life (bullying, belonging). We relied on data from 1,759 Austrian secondary students. Latent profile analyses based on the students’ academic mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals as well as social development, social demonstration-approach, and social demonstration-avoidance goals were conducted. Relations to aspects of students’ social and academic life were investigated through structural equation modeling. We identified five profiles that were each differentially associated with these variables: (a) weak pursuit of all goals, (b) strong mastery and development but weak performance and demonstration goals, (c) strong mastery and development but moderate performance and demonstration goals, (d) strong mastery and strong performance goals paired with strong social development, demonstration-approach, and demonstration-avoidance goals. Findings from additional variable-centered analyses indicated that while profile analyses are helpful to explain how academic and social goals are combined within individuals, researchers primarily interested in explaining differences in students’ academic and social functioning might derive clearer results through variable-centered approaches.