Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Assessments of Changes in Motivational Beliefs of Elementary and Middle School Children.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Assessments of Changes in Motivational Beliefs of Elementary and Middle School Children.
Language: English
Authors: Moely, Barbara E.
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 15
Publication Date: 1995
Document Type: Reports - Descriptive
Speeches/Meeting Papers
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Age Differences, Beliefs, Cross Sectional Studies, Elementary Education, Elementary School Students, Evaluation, Longitudinal Studies, Middle Class Students, Middle School Students, Middle Schools, Performance Factors, Student Attitudes, Student Motivation
Geographic Terms: U.S.; Louisiana
Abstract: Motivational beliefs of children in grades 5 through 8 (ages 10 years, 9 months to 13 years, 7 months) were assessed in a cross-sectional and a longitudinal study. Children attended a nonsectarian, private school in which the method of evaluating academic performance changed over grades from an individualized, mastery-oriented approach to a normative, comparative one. The school served families of middle to upper-middle SES levels. Only 9% of the children were of minority backgrounds. Children were asked to respond to questionnaires assessing beliefs concerning goal orientations, the value of school, attributions of academic success and failure, and perceived academic competence. Sixty-five of the original 122 children again completed the questionnaire 2 years later. In each study, children's motivational beliefs changed over grade level, so that mastery orientation, perceptions of the value of school, and the use of effort attributions for academic success all decreased over grades 5 through 8, while work avoidance increased. (Author/DR)
Notes: Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (61st, Indianapolis, IN, March 30-April 2, 1995).
Journal Code: RIESEP1995
Entry Date: 1995
Accession Number: ED382372
Database: ERIC
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