The present investigation examined the role of teachers' instructional support (student reports of relevance, organization and clarity, feedback-feedforward) in predicting students' growth goal setting and, in turn, the roles of instructional support and growth goal setting in predicting students' academic engagement (perseverance, aspirations,…

The aim of this study was to test a process model of students' learning in higher education, linking anxiety, course experience (positive and negative), self-worth protection (SWP) (self-handicapping, defensive expectations, reflectivity), student approach to learning (SAL) (deep/surface), and achievement. Path and bootstrap analyses of data from…

This study assessed the role of prior personal best goals in predicting subsequent academic motivation and engagement. A total of 1160 high school students participated in a longitudinal survey study exploring the extent to which personal best and mastery and performance (dichotomous) achievement goals predict students' academic motivation and…

We investigated academic buoyancy (a response to challenge) and adaptability (a response to change) among a sample of 12-16-year-olds in China (N = 3617) compared with same-aged youth from North America (N = 989) and the United Kingdom (UK; N = 1182). We found that Chinese students reported higher mean levels of buoyancy and adaptability. We also…

Prior research has shown personal best (PB) goals to be significantly related to students' motivation, engagement and achievement. However, research thus far has investigated PB goals only among Western samples and it is unclear to what extent PB goals hold academic merit in the Asian context. It is also unclear whether PB goals explain variance…

Academic buoyancy has been defined as a capacity to overcome setbacks, challenges, and difficulties that are part of everyday academic life. Academic resilience has been defined as a capacity to overcome acute and/or chronic adversity that is seen as a major threat to a student's educational development. This study is the first to examine the…

Aim: The collection of data on longer-term neurodevelopmental outcomes within large neonatal randomized controlled trials by trained assessors can greatly increase costs and present many operational difficulties. The aim of this study was to develop a more practical alternative for identifying major cognitive delay in infants at the age of 24…

Using a cross-lagged analytic framework, the present study examined (1) the relative salience of prior academic personal bests (PBs) in predicting subsequent engagement and achievement compared with (2) the relative salience of prior engagement and achievement in predicting subsequent PBs. Academic PBs, engagement, and achievement measures were…

The study tested three theoretically/conceptually hypothesized longitudinal models of academic processes leading to academic performance. Based on a longitudinal sample of 1866 high-school students across two consecutive years of high school (Time 1 and Time 2), the model with the most superior heuristic value demonstrated: (a) academic motivation…

The current research integrated components of the transactional model of stress and coping with self-worth and goal theories to examine a model where (a) teachers' goal orientation (as indicated by mastery and failure avoidance) was hypothesized to predict their teaching coping strategies (as indicated by problem- and emotion-focused coping) and…

Prompted by international concerns about school and postschool participation in mathematics, the authors of the present study sought to investigate factors predicting "switching on" and "switching off" in mathematics, operationalized through measures of future intent and disengagement, respectively. They drew from…

In the context of 7,637 high school students, the present study explored an hypothesized formulation of academic courage (defined as perseverance in the face of academic difficulty and fear) and its role in predicting academic performance (literacy and arithmetic) and various academic engagement measures (planning, task management,…

Background: The literature has documented theoretical/conceptual models delineating the facilitating role of peer relationships in academic and non-academic outcomes. However, the mechanisms through which peer relationships link to those outcomes is an area requiring further research. Aims: The study examined the role of adolescents' perceptions…

The transition from school to further education and work is one of immense change that impacts physical activity attitudes and engagement in adulthood. The Stages of Change (SOC) model, which resides under the transtheoretical framework, has been proposed as one way to measure and evaluate physical activity uptake and maintenance. The current…

Are boys better motivated by male than female teachers in high school math, science, and English classes, and can these differences be explained by classroom climate? Using a cross-classified multilevel model with 5 levels (school, teacher, class, student, subject), the authors found little or no support for this contention. In general (except in…