Part of the evidence used to corroborate school motivation theories relies on modeling methods that estimate cross-lagged effects between constructs, that is, reciprocal effects from one occasion to another. Yet, the reliability of cross-lagged models rests on the assumption that students do not differ in their trajectories of growth over time…

The Reciprocal Effects Model (REM) posits that academic self-concept and corresponding achievement measures are reciprocally related over time. Although there is considerable support for the REM based on short-term, narrowly focused educational accomplishments, little research evaluates the long-term implications of this reciprocal pattern of…

Student motivation research seeks to uncover greater understanding of when, how, and why students succeed or fail in school settings. Self-determination theory has been at the forefront of helping educational stakeholders answer questions on student motivation. This study investigates the motivation mediation model proposed by self-determination…

Although interest has been repeatedly identified as a powerful basis for learning and academic achievement, limited empirical work has looked at the structural composition, persistence, stability, and development of interests over time. Such work is necessary to support developmental models of interest empirically. Using 6 dimensions identified in…

Using the dual process theoretical framework (Brandtstädter & Rothermund, 2002), we examined whether the tendency to pursue goals tenaciously (TEN), in conjunction with the tendency to flexibly adjust one's preferences (FLEX), would be beneficial or detrimental for high school students' self-reported life satisfaction and achievement on tests…

"Grit" is defined as passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals and consists of two proposed subcomponents: consistency of interests and perseverance of effort. It has become a much-discussed construct even though research on its underlying factor structure has produced inconclusive results. Furthermore, grit as measured by…

It is often assumed that low levels of teacher self-efficacy (TSE) leads to negative outcomes, including burnout; however, the temporal order of the construct predictions has rarely been examined. We used an autoregressive cross-lagged panel design to examine whether TSE and burnout are concurrently associated with each other, whether TSE predicts…

Dimensional comparisons are comparisons of one's accomplishments between two domains (e.g., comparisons between math and verbal achievements) that affect our self-perceptions in the domains compared with each other. In particular, dimensional comparisons explain the seemingly paradoxical finding, described in the internal/external frame of…

This article reports an experimental study on the effects of explicit teaching on 11th grade students' ability to reason causally in history. Underpinned by the model of domain learning, explicit teaching is conceptualized as multidimensional, focusing on strategies and second-order concepts to generate and verbalize causal explanations and…

One purpose of this study was to determine whether patterns existed in pre-high school students' motivation-related perceptions of their science classes. Another purpose was to examine the extent to which these patterns were related to their science identification, gender, grade level, class effort, and intentions to persist in science. We…

Students evaluate their achievement in a specific domain in relation to their achievement in other domains and form their self-concepts accordingly. These comparison processes have been termed "dimensional comparisons" and shown to be an important source of academic self-concepts in addition to social and temporal comparisons. Research…

The role of time on task (TOT) for students' attainment in a low-stakes assessment of cross-curricular skills was examined using the log data collected in the computer-based assessment (CBA). Two structural equation models were compared: Model 1, in which students' test scores were explained by grade point average (GPA) together with mastery and…

A multifactor perspective on writing self-efficacy was examined in 2 studies. Three factors were proposed--self-efficacy for writing ideation, writing conventions, and writing self-regulation--and a scale constructed to reflect these factors. In Study 1, middle school students (N = 697) completed the Self-Efficacy for Writing Scale (SEWS), along…

This study evaluated whether the positive association between early autonomy-supportive parenting and children's subsequent achievement is mediated by children's executive functions. Using observations of mothers' parenting from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N…

In this study, we investigated effects of the proportion of language minority students in classrooms on the development of students' intrinsic motivation in language lessons and the mediating role of instructional climate (e.g., teacher support, focus on student interests). In addition, we explored the interaction between the proportion of…