A Structural Equation Modeling of the Relationships Between Parenting Styles, Students’ Personality Traits, and Students’ Achievement Goal Orientation

Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in achievement goal orientation correlates. What is not yet clear is the detailed relationships among students’ goal orientation, students’ personality traits, and parenting style. In so doing, this research responds to the need to analyze the importance of parenting styles (permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian) and students’ traits (psychoticism, neuroticism, and extraversion) in explaining the achievement goal orientations (mastery approach, mastery avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance). In the exploratory correlational study, 586 Iranian students along with their parents were selected as the sample so as to evaluate the structure of the relationships between these variables. The results indicate that students’ psychoticism and neuroticism predict students’ goal orientations (positively: performance and mastery avoidance and negatively: mastery and performance approach) while extraversion did not. Only the authoritative style predicts mastery approach (positively) and psychoticism trait (negatively). Permissive and authoritarian styles do not directly or indirectly predict students’ goal orientations.

Psychological Birth Order and Achievement Goal Orientation of High School Students engaged in Shadow Education

The focus of the current study is to examine the nature of the relationship of goal orientation with psychological birth order. Likewise, it also looked into the ability of psychological birth order to influence the endorsement of achievement goals (mastery-approach and avoidance; performance- approach and avoidance). A total of 220 high school students engaged in shadow education answered the White-Campbell Psychological Birth Order Inventory (PBOI) and the Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ). Based on the regression analysis performed, only the pairing of psychological birth order and performance-approach is significant while those of psychological birth order, mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, and performance-avoidance are not significant. Further analysis revealed that those who are psychologically firstborns tend to endorse the mastery-approach goal orientation while those who are psychologically youngest or lastborn endorses mastery-avoidance.

Exploring the Dimensions of Movement-Specific Reinvestment From Personal Characteristics Perspectives

The purposes of the present study were three-fold: to examine (a) if the movement-specific reinvestment responses should be represented as two dimensional constructs, (b) whether dichotomization of the movement-specific reinvestment responses are appropriate, and (c) how the two dimensions are associated with relevant psychological concepts. To conduct a comparative examination of the MSRS structure in two Asian samples, participants were 236 Japanese university students (136 men, 100 women; Mage = 18.0, SD = 1.6) and 328 Singaporeans (167 men, 161 women; Mage = 21.8, SD = 1.8). After examining the factor structure of the movement-specific reinvestment responses for the first purpose, latent class factor analysis was conducted for both samples for the second purpose. For the third purpose, correlation analysis and mediation analysis were conducted for a part of the Singaporean sample. Through a series of latent class factor analysis, four and three classes were identified for the Japanese and Singaporean samples, respectively. For both samples, the patterns of the item-average scores for the two movement-specific reinvestment dimensions were parallel among the classes. Conscious Motor Processing was positively associated with mental toughness, intrinsic regulation, integrated regulation, mastery-approach and task goal orientations, and dispositional flow, whereas Movement Self-Consciousness was positively related with stress and mastery-avoidance goal orientation. The findings of the study supported (a) the two-dimensional representation of the movement-specific reinvestment responses, but did not fully support (b) the practice of dichotomization of the movement-specific reinvestment responses, and indicated that (c) at the trait level, Conscious Motor Processing and Movement Self-Consciousness were associated with positive and negative psychological constructs, respectively.

Achievement Goals, Fear of Failure and Self-Handicapping in Young Elite Athletes with and without Chronic Pain

Background: Pain is a common problem in elite athletes. This exploratory study compares goal orientations towards sport, fear of failure, self-handicapping and pain catastrophizing between active young elite athletes with and without chronic pain (CP) complaints (longer than three months). It examines the associations between chronic pain, fear of failure, goal orientations, self-handicapping and pain catastrophizing in young elite athletes. We explore how far goal orientation can be explained by these factors. Methods: Young elite athletes completed an online questionnaire. Data analysis: Independent samples t-test, correlational analyses and multivariate regression analyses. Results: Participants were 132 young elite athletes (mean 16 years); data for 126 were analyzed. A total of 47% reported current pain, of which 60% had CP. Adolescents with CP showed significantly more pain intensity, fear of failure, self-handicapping and mastery–avoidance goals than those without. Pain intensity was significantly related to fear of failure, self-handicapping, pain catastrophizing and mastery–avoidance. Self-handicapping and fear of failure contributed significantly to mastery–avoidance variance. Performance–avoidance and –approach goals were explained by fear of failure. Conclusion: CP was common, with sufferers showing more fear of failure and self-handicapping strategies, and being motivated to avoid performing worse (mastery–avoidance). Self-handicapping and fear of failure influenced mastery–avoidance orientation, and fear of failure explained part of performance–avoidance and –approach orientations. Longitudinal studies should explore the role of these factors in the trajectory of CP in these athletes.

Exploring achievement goals tendencies in students: the link between achievement goals and types of motivation

Aim. This research explored the link between motivation types and achievement goals. More specifically the research focuses on exploring goal endorsements among learners as well as their correlation with motivation.Methods. The sample of 600 participants was gathered among students enrolled in private (N= 156) institutions and public universities (N=444). The study was a quantitative one and utilized the Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ-R) as well as the Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation scales (Lepper, Corpus, &Iyengar, 2005).Results. The results stipulate that achievement goals are closely linked to situation factors such as university and department. Supporting the premise of fluidity of goal constructs. Ultimately, mastery approach, performance approach and performance avoidance goals did not discriminate between types of motivation, with three goals being positivelycorrelated to both types of motivation. Mastery avoidance goals were not correlated to any of the motivation types (intrinsic or extrinsic), but they showed a tendency to be negatively correlated to extrinsic motivation, a correlation that was not significant.Conclusion. Present research reveals that there are significant differences among participants in goal adoption according to year of study. Specifically, as expected first year students were significantly more mastery oriented than participants attending the second and third year of studies. Gender differences were also evident, with female students reporting higher levels of mastery orientation compared to male students. Finally, the inconclusive results regarding motivation types and achievement goals need future studies to reestablish the stipulated link

What Predicts Quality of Learners’ Study Efforts? Implicit Beliefs and Interest Are Related to Mastery Goals but Not to Use of Effective Study Strategies

What goes into motivating students to take effective action? Ideally, students are not only motivated to invest time into their studying, but that they use their time in effective and productive ways. In the present study, we surveyed college undergraduates (N = 366) about how they engage in one of their college courses. Specifically, we explored how their motivation-related implicit beliefs (ease and difficulty mindsets, intelligence mindset;Dweck, 2000; Fisher and Oyserman, 2017) interact with perceived course interest and course importance to predict their achievement goal orientation for the course and the quality of their study strategies. We used a person-centered latent profiles analysis approach categorize meaningful profiles of implicit beliefs. Those who were likely to highly endorse motivation-increasing implicit beliefs and who found a course interesting were also more likely to hold mastery-approach goals; the relationship, however, was more complicated for performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. Implicit beliefs profiles themselves did not directly relate to strategy use, but goal orientation did. In particular, mastery-approach goal orientation was uniquely related to all three of the effective study strategies subscales (e.g., elaborative, standard testing, generative testing). Mastery-avoidance was related to less use of elaborative strategies, and performance-goals were not related to any type strategy use. Perceived course importance was positively related to increased passive and elaborative strategies, but not the standard testing or generative testing strategies. We discuss implications for interventions.

Elite athletes’ achievement goals, burnout levels, psychosomatic stress symptoms, and coping strategies

Elite athletes undergo intensive training and competitive pressure to succeed, making them susceptible to professional strain. However, they differ in their subjective reactions in the form of burnout levels and psychosomatic stress symptoms. Following a motivational perspective, these differences may be explained by the goals that athletes pursue. The current study therefore examined the effects of elite athletes’ achievement goals on their burnout levels and psychosomatic stress symptoms, and to what extent they can be explained by athletes’ use of adaptive coping strategies. Based on the answers of 125 German elite athletes, path modelling revealed that mastery approach goals were negatively associated with burnout levels and psychosomatic stress symptoms, while mastery avoidance and performance approach goals were positively associated with burnout levels. Coping strategies partially mediated the effects of mastery approach goals on burnout levels and psychosomatic stress symptoms. These findings suggest practical implications for supporting elite athletes through goal setting processes.

How Proponents and Opponents Influence Achievement Motivation: The Role of the Anticipated Emotions of Other People

There are countless studies about the influence of other people’s emotions on individuals' behavior. However, the influence of proponents' and opponents' future emotions on achievement motivation remains unclear. This study aims to fill this gap. Therefore, departing from the emotional intelligence theory, the author materializes the anticipated emotions of other people concept and tests it using a static group experimental design with success and failure scenarios, involving 203 participants chosen judgmentally. When reminded of the proponents' joyfulness caused by their success, the Mann-Whitney U test with normal approximation, supported by the Monte Carlo estimation, shows that the mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals of the experimental group are enhanced. Whereas, when reminded that they would be envied and make the opponents feel distressed, the performance-approach goals are improved. In the failure scenario, when the participants were directed to the proponents' distress, as a response to their failure, the four components of the achievement goals are increased: mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance. However, the opponents' joyfulness, anticipated as a malicious schadenfreude to the participants' failure, is only successful in stimulating the performance-avoidance goals. A Bayesian estimate with 5,000 times bootstrapping reveals that self-efficacy mediates the influence of the proponents' anticipated joyfulness on the mastery-approach fully, and on the performance-approach goals in a complementary way. Complementary mediation is also apparent in the impact of the proponents' distress on the mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals. Above all, love for the proponents is more potent than hatred from social environments for increasing the achievement motivation. Further research is encouraged to replicate this study with different social behavior.

Case Study Instruction Experiences in Educational Psychology and Pre-Service Teachers’ Achievement Goals for Learning

Case studies have become a popular vehicle for pre-service teachers to be introduced to the challenges of classroom teaching and participate in hypothetical classroom decision-making. Because of the similarity of case study instruction to those classroom structures proven to influence a student’s adoption of mastery-approach goals, we expected that case study learning would predict educational psychology students’ adoption of these adaptive goals. However, there is limited empirical research on the impact of case study instruction on student’s motivation, particularly for students’ adoption of achievement goals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between students’ perceived experiences in case study instruction and each of four achievement goals identified in the goal literature. Since self-efficacy may be another important influence on students’ achievement goals, we also included it as another predictor variable in our regression analyses. Both online and traditional on-campus students are included in this study. While neither performance goal was significantly related to case study instruction for either class format, perceptions of case study instruction predicted online students’ mastery-approach goals and predicted lower rates of mastery-avoidance goals in traditional students. Self-efficacy predicted greater likelihood of mastery-approach goals for traditional students and lower rates of mastery-avoidance goals in both class formats.