The role of parental achievement goals in predicting autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting

Although autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting are linked to numerous positive and negative child outcomes respectively, fewer studies have focused on their determinants. Drawing on achievement goal theory and self-determination theory, we propose that parental achievement goals (i.e., achievement goals that parents have for their children) can be mastery, performance-approach or performance-avoidance oriented and that types of goals predict mothers' tendency to adopt autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors. A total of 67 mothers (aged 30-53 years) reported their goals for their adolescent (aged 13-16 years; 19.4 % girls), while their adolescent evaluated their mothers' behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that parental performance-approach goals predict more controlling parenting and prevent acknowledgement of feelings, one autonomy-supportive behavior. In addition, mothers who have mastery goals and who endorse performance-avoidance goals are less likely to use guilt-inducing criticisms. These findings were observed while controlling for the effect of maternal anxiety

Patterns of motivation among adolescents with biased and accurate self-efficacy beliefs

The motivational pattern of adolescents with biased and accurate self-efficacy beliefs in language and/or in math was examined in the current study. A sample of 6119 adolescents completed self-report questionnaires measuring self-efficacy beliefs for language and math, their interest in each subject, persistence, achievement goal orientations, and social goals. Data analyses indicated that (a) underestimation of one's performance, even in regard to a single school subject, was associated to costs and no benefits, (b) accurate or realistic self-appraisals were associated to benefits and no costs, and (c) overestimation of one's performance was more likely to be associated with more costs but not necessarily fewer benefits than realistic self-beliefs. Gender differences were also found. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd

Implicit theories of intelligence, perceived academic competence, and school achievement: Testing alternative models

In the present study 3 alternative causal models concerning the relationships between implicit theories of intelligence, perceived academic competence, and school achievement were tested. The direction of changes in implicit theories and perceived competence during early adolescence also was examined. A total of 187 fifth and sixth graders were tested and retested a year later, when they were sixth and seventh graders, respectively. Cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that school achievement determined the adoption of a particular implicit theory through the mediation of perceived competence. Implicit theories were found to change toward the adoption of more incremental beliefs and perceived academic competence declined; however, high achievers, as compared with their low- and middle-level classmates, adopted more incremental beliefs and had significantly higher perceived competence. © 2006 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Informing the utility of learning interventions: Investigating factors related to students’ academic achievement in classroom and online courses

To inform the utility of interventions delivered by adaptive educational technologies, we investigated the relationship between student grades and three target constructs, namely self-regulation, motivation, and self-theory of intelligence, in classroom and online settings. To do so, we collected data from a large sample of undergraduate university students (N = 1453) enrolled in either a traditional face-to-face course or an online course and analyzed the data using hierarchical regression analysis. Prior research suggests that self-regulation, motivation, and self-theory of intelligence influence students’ academic achievement. However, to date a hierarchical regression model including all three constructs has not been tested. Our results show that self-regulation and motivational constructs are positively associated with grades, but the self-theory of intelligence construct is not. Furthermore, we show that context does matter: the model for the classroom sample explained substantially more variance in grades as compared to the online model