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This international study compared motivational tendencies among pre-school children from Israel, Finland and the Netherlands. Teachers were asked to rate students' behaviours during semi-structured tasks using the Child Behaviour Motivational Scale (CBeMo) which measures task orientation, task avoidance, and social dependence. Motivational tendencies for 472 children, ages 4–6 were compared by country, age, and gender. Results showed that Israeli children displayed lower levels of task avoidance and social dependence than European children at both ages 4 and 5. Israeli 4-year-olds showed high levels of task orientation similar to the 5-year-olds in the three countries. In all three groups, girls exhibited higher levels of task orientation than boys. Differences in motivational tendencies may result from cultural characteristics, while consistent differences between boys and girls may indicate universal gender influences. Understanding young children's motivational tendencies may contribute to the development of teaching practices that support children's positive dispositions towards learning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]