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Although research on motivational regulation, as an important subprocess of self-regulated learning, has increased considerably in the past two decades, previous findings stem mainly from cross-sectional data and between-person analyses. The aim of this research was to explore the longitudinal associations between self-efficacy for motivational regulation, use of motivational regulation strategies, and satisfaction with academic studies in university students (N = 574). We conducted a four-wave study at one-semester intervals and used random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) to distinguish between-person associations (regarding stable interindividual differences) from within-person associations (regarding processes of intraindividual change) of the variables. At the between-person level, higher self-efficacy for motivational regulation was associated with more frequent use of motivational regulation strategies. Additionally, both motivational regulation constructs were positively associated with satisfaction with study content and satisfaction with coping with study-related stress. At the within-person level, we found significant negative cross-lagged effects of self-efficacy for motivational regulation on strategy use, but not vice versa. Furthermore, we found significant positive cross-lagged effects of self-efficacy for motivational regulation on both satisfaction dimensions, but not vice versa. With regard to the cross-lagged effects between strategy use and both satisfaction dimensions, the respective reciprocal associations were not statistically significant. These findings provide initial evidence for the relevance of changes in self-efficacy for motivational regulation in predicting changes in the frequency of motivational regulation strategy use and in satisfaction with academic studies. Furthermore, they accentuate the importance of disentangling between-person from within-person associations in research on self-regulated learning. Educational Impact and Implications Statement: This longitudinal study enriches our understanding of motivational regulation processes and their role in academic satisfaction. The obtained results show that an increase in self-efficacy for motivational regulation is associated with a subsequent decrease in the frequency of motivational regulation strategy use as well as a subsequent increase in academic satisfaction in university students. Based on these findings, increasing students' self-efficacy beliefs in the domain of motivational regulation may be a promising way of promoting their academic satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify elements of personal knowledge that were hypothesized to underlie within-person, across-context variations in students' appraisals of self-efficacy for coping with challenges encountered in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Freshman in a college of engineering completed assessments of (a) 4 elements of personal knowledge regarding themselves and their educational resources; (b) their subjective beliefs about links between these 4 personal and social qualities and each of 32 specific educational challenges; and (c) perceived self-efficacy for successfully handling each of the 32 challenges. Individual students' self-efficacy appraisals commonly varied substantially within-person, across contexts. This variability was predictable. Students displayed relatively high (low) self-efficacy within subsets of situations they subjectively linked to positively (negatively) valenced knowledge that they possessed, a finding consistent with the knowledge-and-appraisal model of personality architecture that guided the research. Additional analyses demonstrated that students with similar overall academic self-efficacy scores may display markedly different profiles of self-efficacy appraisal across context. Students' narrative accounts enriched understanding of these profile patterns. Educational Impact and Implications Statement: This study introduces novel methods for assessing the beliefs of individual STEM students and the specific social contexts in which these beliefs come into play. Findings show that our assessments predict both consistency and variability in student's confidence in their ability to handle challenges encountered in STEM education. Because our assessment methods provide richer, more nuanced information about individual students than the assessments commonly found in the scientific literature, they may be of particular value to school counselors and advisors who need to understand idiosyncrasies in the beliefs and social experiences of the individual student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological factors such as grit and self-efficacy have been heralded as powerful predictors of performance. Their joint contribution to the prediction of early adolescents' school success has not been fully investigated, however. The purpose of this study was to examine U.S. elementary and middle school students' (N = 2,430) grit (assessed as perseverance of effort) and self-efficacy, and their predictive relationship with achievement and teacher-rated motivation and competence in reading and math across one school year. Scalar invariance was found for grit and self-efficacy measures across school level, gender, and SES. Older students and students from lower SES reported significantly lower grit and self-efficacy. Girls reported higher grit and reading self-efficacy. Grit was correlated positively with self-efficacy (.37 ≤ r ≤ .66), modestly with teacher ratings in reading and math (.14 ≤ r ≤ .25), and weakly or uncorrelated with achievement (.03 ≤ r ≤ .13). Self-efficacy was positively related to all outcomes (.21 ≤ r ≤ .36). SEM indicated that subject-specific self-efficacy was positively related, and grit weakly or unrelated, to reading and math achievement, controlling for grade level, gender, SES, and prior achievement. An examination of competing mediation models revealed that self-efficacy partially or fully mediated the relationship between grit and school outcomes. Conversely, little evidence supported grit as a mediator of self-efficacy's relationship to outcomes. Time-lagged models across one school year confirmed these conclusions. Findings imply that, to improve student performance, teachers should target students' self-efficacy rather than grit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' educational outcomes are predicted by their noncognitive characteristics, including Big Five personality domains. Although theories of teaching and learning suggest that teacher noncognitive characteristics also impact student outcomes, such characteristics are rarely studied systematically. We propose that the Big Five personality domains of teachers are associated with teacher effectiveness. Furthermore, we test two potential moderators of these relationships: (1) source of teacher personality report (student reports may show stronger effects than teacher self-reports) and (2) frame of reference (contextualized "at school" personality items for teacher self-reports may show stronger effects than noncontextualized standard personality items). Multilevel regressions were conducted on the data collected from secondary school students (N = 2,082) and their mathematics and English teachers (N = 75). We statistically controlled for student and teacher gender, student previous academic achievement, and student personality. Teacher personality predicted the subjective measures of teacher effectiveness--the strongest predictors were conscientiousness for teacher academic support, agreeableness for teacher personal support, and neuroticism for student performance self-efficacy. Teacher personality did not predict the objective measure (student academic achievement). These effects were moderated by source of personality report but not by frame of reference. The possibility of including personality as part of the initial teacher trainee selection procedure in the future is briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports a meta-analysis of the relationships between creative self-beliefs (CSBs)-a broad set of characteristics including creative self-efficacy, creative personal identity, and self-rated creativity- and the Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) as well as the Huge Two (plasticity and stability) personality traits. A review of the literature identified 25 independent studies and more than 80 correlations per personality factor; these were analyzed using a 3-level meta-analysis model. Openness was consistently the strongest predictor of CSBs (r = .467; 95% Cl: .402, .531), followed by Extraversion (r = .264; 95% Cl: .225, .304), Conscientiousness (r = .133; 95% Cl: .061, .204), Neuroticism (r = -.124; 95% Cl: -.184, -.064), and Agreeableness (r = .070; 95% Cl: .006, .134). These effects were moderated by CSB type; more specifically, the relationships were stronger for domain-general than for domain-specific measures of CSBs. A meta-analytical structural equation model demonstrated that Plasticity was strongly positively correlated with CSBs ((3 = .71), whereas Stability was a negative predictor ((3 = -.23). We discuss whether the relationship between personality and CSBs is causal or correlational and consider the discriminant validity of CSBs as currently defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of proximal and distal constructs on adolescent's academic achievement through self-efficacy. Participants included 482 ninth- and tenth- grade Norwegian students who completed a questionnaire designed to assess school-goal orientations, organizational citizenship behavior, academic self-efficacy, and academic achievement. The results of a bootstrapping technique used to analyze relationships between the constructs indicated that school-goal orientations and organizational citizenship predicted academic self-efficacy. Furthermore, school-goal orientation, organizational citizenship, and academic self-efficacy explained 46% of the variance in academic achievement. Mediation analyses revealed that academic self-efficacy mediated the effects of perceived task goal structure, perceived ability structure, civic virtue, and sportsmanship on adolescents' academic achievements. The results are discussed in reference to current scholarship, including theories underlying our hypothesis. Practical implications and directions for future research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our purpose in the present study was to expand understanding of math beliefs in college students by developing 3 new psychometrically tested scales as guided by expectancy-value theory, self-efficacy theory, and health belief model. Additionally, we identified which math beliefs (and which theory) best explained variance in math behaviors and performance by college students and which students were most likely to have problematic math beliefs. Study participants included 368 college math students who completed questionnaires to report math behaviors (attending class, doing homework, reading textbooks, asking for help) and used a 5-point rating scale to indicate a variety of math beliefs. For a subset of 84 students, math professors provided final math grades. Factor analyses produced a 10-item Math Value Scale with 2 subscales (Class Devaluation, No Future Value), a 7-item single-dimension Math Confidence Scale, and an 11-item Math Barriers Scale with 2 subscales (Math Anxiety, Discouraging Words). Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that high levels of the newly discovered class devaluation belief (guided by expectancy-value theory) were most consistently associated with poor math behaviors in college students, with high math anxiety (guided by health belief model) and low math confidence (guided by self-efficacy theory) also found to be significant. Analyses of covariance revealed that younger and male students were at increased risk for class devaluation and older students were at increased risk for poor math confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examined how self-regulated learning (SRL) and gender influences performance in an educational game for 8th-grade students (N = 130). Crystal Island-Outbreak is an immersive, inquiry-based, narrative-centered learning environment featuring a microbiology science mystery aligned with 8th-grade science curriculum. SRL variables predicted successful in-game performance even after accounting for prior knowledge and perceived gaming skill. Content learning gains were found across both genders, and girls performed at similar levels as boys in the game despite incoming disadvantages for perceived skill and prior gaming experience. Boys were more effective than girls in using a cognitive tool that was critical for solving the Crystal Island-Outbreak mystery; however, these differences disappeared when prior gaming experience was taken into account. Overconfidence on monitoring judgments for boys but not girls was predictive of in-game performance. Findings related to motivational variables such as self-efficacy, situational interest, and goal orientation were mixed with regard to their consistency across genders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-efficacy forecasts student persistence and achievement in challenging subjects. Thus, it is important to understand factors that contribute to students' self-efficacy, a key factor in their success in math and science. The current cross-sectional study examined the contribution of students' gender and math and science anxiety as well as schools' use of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) practices to students' math and science self-efficacy. Fifth graders (n = 1,561) completed questionnaires regarding their feelings about math and science. Approximately half of the students attended schools implementing the Responsive Classroom® (RC) approach, an SEL intervention, as part of a randomized controlled trial. Results suggested no difference in math and science self-efficacy between boys and girls. Students who self-reported higher math and science anxiety also reported less self-efficacy toward these subjects. However, the negative association between students' anxiety and self-efficacy was attenuated in schools using more RC practices compared with those using fewer RC practices. RC practices were associated with higher science self-efficacy. Results highlight anxiety as contributing to poor self-efficacy in math and science and suggest that RC practices create classroom conditions in which students' anxiety is less strongly associated with negative beliefs about their ability to be successful in math and science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing is a complex activity that requires transcription and self-regulation. We used multiple-group structural equation modeling to test the contribution of transcription (handwriting and spelling), planning, revision, and self-efficacy to writing quality at 2 developmental points (Grades 4-6 vs. 7-9). In Grades 4-6, the model explained 76% of the variance in writing quality, and transcription contributed directly to text generation. This finding suggests that, for younger students, handwriting and spelling were the strongest constraints to text generation. In Grades 7-9, the model explained 82% of the variance in writing quality. Although transcription did not contribute directly to text generation, it contributed indirectly through planning and self-efficacy. The progressive automatization of transcription throughout school years may contribute to the acquisition and development of self-regulatory skills, which, in turn, positively influence the quality of text generation. Explicit instruction and practice in handwriting, spelling, planning, and revising along with nurturing of realistic self-efficacy beliefs may facilitate writing development beyond primary years of schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about how microaggressions may impact the health and mental health of college students of color attending historically White universities. In this study, students provided self-report of the number of racial and ethnic microaggressions they had experienced over the previous month, as well as data on anxiety symptoms (Beck Anxiety Inventory), alcohol consumption (Daily Drinking Questionnaire) and consequences (Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index), and self-efficacy to cope with daily hassles (General Self-efficacy Scale) and with high risk drinking situations (Situational Confidence Questionnaire). As expected, students of color reported significantly more microaggressions than their European American counterparts. Microaggressions and self-efficacy were significantly associated with anxiety (Full Model R2 = .20; p < .001), microaggressions and self-efficacy were significantly associated with binge drinking (Full Model R2 = .10; p < .01), and microaggressions, binge drinking events, selfefficacy, and microaggressions X self-efficacy interaction were significantly associated with alcohol related consequences (Full Model R2 = .28; p < .001) among the students of color. Results suggest that microaggressions may represent a health and mental health risk to students of color. Implications of study results and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies explored the relationship between elementary students' creative self-efficacy (CSE) beliefs (i.e., self-judgments of creative ability) and teachers' ratings of students' creativity. In Study 1, elementary students' (N = 595) CSE beliefs in science predicted teachers' ratings of students' creative expression in science, accounting for a significant, but small (3.4%), proportion of variation in teachers' ratings. Results of Study 1 also indicate that students' CSE beliefs tended to decline by grade level and teachers tended to rate females and White students as more creative. In Study 2, elementary students' (N = 306) CSE beliefs in science and math predicted teachers' ratings of creative expression in math and science, again accounting for a significant, but small (2.1% in science; 4.2% in math), proportion of variation in teachers' ratings. Also similar to Study 1, results indicate students' CSE beliefs declined by grade level. Results of Study 2 indicate that students tended to underestimate their creative ability and tended to differentiate between creative ability in science and math (whereas their teachers did not). Implications for creativity research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined predictors of creative self-efficacy (CSE) within a large sample (N = 1,878) of Polish school students. Results indicate that creative self-efficacy is significantly predicted by creative abilities (measured by Test of Creative Thinking-Drawing Production) as well as self-reported originality, with 12% of the creative self-efficacy variance predicted by these criteria. Analysis of the potential antecedents of creative self-efficacy showed that it is connected with gender, socioeconomic status, and locality size. Socioeconomic status (SES) was a positive predictor of CSE. Male students were characterized by higher self-efficacy than female students and they also tended to overestimate their creative self-efficacy as predicted by abilities. In turn, females underestimated their creative self-efficacy. Socioeconomic status moderated the relations between creative abilities and creative self-efficacy, with stronger associations between abilities and efficacy in high SES groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety and its disorders, often present before adulthood, have high personal and societal costs for men and women. This study tested a mediation model in which 3 forms of coping mediate the relation of 3 agentic personality characteristics (i.e., traits associated with the belief that people can effectively exercise control over their lives) to lower levels of anxiety within 1 subgroup of young adults (i.e., college students). The agentic personality characteristics were (a) hardiness, (b) personal growth initiative, and (c) coping self-efficacy. The forms of dispositional coping were (a) problem-focused, (b) emotion-focused, and (c) avoidant. Results suggest that agentic personality characteristics differentially relate to forms of coping and trait anxiety. In addition, coping appears to fully mediate the relations of the personality characteristics to anxiety. The results imply that agentic personality characteristics and coping are important in decreasing and/or protecting against anxiety, in part because of how they relate to forms of coping, and suggest the need for more research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are generally overconfident in their self-assessments and this overconfidence effect is greatest for people of poorer abilities. For example, poor students predict that they will perform much better on exams than they do. One explanation for this result is that poor performers in general are doubly cursed: They lack knowledge of the material, and they lack awareness of the knowledge that they do and do not possess. The current studies examined whether poor performers in the classroom are truly unaware of their deficits by examining the relationship between students' exam predictions and their confidence in these predictions. Relative to high-performing students, the poorer students showed a greater overconfidence effect (i.e., their predictions were greater than their performance), but they also reported lower confidence in these predictions. Together, these results suggest that poor students are indeed unskilled but that they may have some awareness of their lack of metacognitive knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the effect of the perceived classroom environment on math self-efficacy and the effect of math self-efficacy on standardized math test performance. Upper elementary school students (N = 1,163) provided self-reports of their perceived math self-efficacy and the degree to which their math classroom environment was mastery oriented, challenging, and caring. Individual student scores on the California Standards Test for Mathematics were also collected. A series of 2-level models revealed that students who perceived their classroom environments as more caring, challenging, and mastery oriented had significantly higher levels of math self-efficacy, and higher levels of math self-efficacy positively predicted math performance. Analysis of the indirect effects of classroom variables on math performance indicated a small significant mediating effect of self-efficacy. Implications for research on self-efficacy and the perceived classroom environment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated 2 engagement-fostering aspects of teachers' instructional styles--autonomy support and structure--and hypothesized that students' engagement would be highest when teachers provided high levels of both. Trained observers rated teachers' instructional styles and students' behavioral engagement in 133 public high school classrooms in the Midwest, and 1,584 students in Grades 9-11 reported their subjective engagement. Correlational and hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed 3 results: (a) Autonomy support and structure were positively correlated, (b) autonomy support and structure both predicted students' behavioral engagement, and (c) only autonomy support was a unique predictor of students' self-reported engagement. We discuss, first, how these findings help illuminate the relations between autonomy support and structure as 2 complementary, rather than antagonistic or curvilinear, engagement-fostering aspects of teachers' instructional styles and, second, the somewhat different results obtained for the behavioral versus self-report measures of students' classroom engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined (a) whether motivational orientation can spread from teachers to students during 2 consecutive teaching-learning sessions and (b) mechanisms underlying this phenomenon in a special physical education session delivered to high school students. Participants who were taught a sport activity by an allegedly paid instructor reported lower interest in learning and exhibited less persistence in a free-choice period than students taught by a supposedly volunteer instructor, despite receiving the same standardized lesson across experimental conditions. When participants taught the activity to their peers in a subsequent unconstrained learning session, lower levels of interest and behavioral persistence were also exhibited by learners who received the second lesson. A structural equation model confirmed that learners at the end of this educational chain made inferences about how intrinsically motivated their peer tutors were, on the basis of their teaching style (i.e., autonomy-supportive behaviors) and the positive affects they displayed. These inferences, in turn, affected the students' own intrinsic motivation for the activity. Results are interpreted in relation to self-determination theory, and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relations between effortful control, emotionality (anger, sadness, and shyness), and academic achievement were examined in a short-term longitudinal study of 291 kindergartners. Teachers and parents reported on students' effortful control and emotionality. Students completed the Continuous Performance Task and the Letter-Word, Passage Comprehension, and Applied Problems subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson tests of achievement. Effortful control was positively related to achievement. Parent-and teacher-reported anger and teacher-reported sadness and shyness were negatively related to achievement, but many of the main effects were qualified by interactions with effortful control. At low levels of anger or sadness, students high in effortful control performed best, but at high levels of these emotions, all children performed similarly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linkages of achievement-related boredom with students' appraisals and performance outcomes were examined in a series of 5 exploratory, cross-sectional, and predictive investigations. Studies 1 and 2 assessed students' boredom in a single achievement episode (i.e., state achievement boredom); Studies 3, 4, and 5 focused on their habitual boredom (i.e., trait achievement boredom). Samples consisted of university students from two different cultural contexts (North America and Germany). In line with hypotheses derived from Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions, achievement-related subjective control and value negatively predicted boredom. In turn, boredom related positively to attention problems and negatively to intrinsic motivation, effort, use of elaboration strategies, self-regulation, and subsequent academic performance. Findings were consistent across different constructs (state vs. trait achievement boredom), methodologies (qualitative, cross-sectional, and predictive), and cultural contexts. The research is discussed with regard to the underdeveloped literature on achievement emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reciprocal determinism is a central premise of Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. Studies of the relationship between self-beliefs and performance tend to draw on this or related theories and usually endorse the notion of reciprocal determinism at a substantive-theoretical level. However, attempts to model this postulated mutual influence of self-beliefs and performance are few and are focused on the relationship between self-concept and performance. The reciprocal determinism of self-efficacy and performance seems to be without direct empirical support, probably because the longitudinal, repeated-measures data often considered necessary for this purpose are not available. It is possible, though, to model reciprocal effects with cross-sectional data. In the analyses reported in this article, the authors achieved this using a structural equation model in which the mutual influence of self-efficacy and performance in mathematics is represented as a feedback loop. This model was estimated in each of 33 nations on the basis of data on the mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics achievement of 15-year-olds. The model was a good fit to the data in 30 nations and was supportive of reciprocal determinism in 24 of these, suggesting a fundamental psychological process that transcends national and cultural boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we investigated the academic interests and goals of 223 African American, Latino/a, Southeast Asian, and Native American undergraduate students in 2 groups: biological science (BIO) and engineering (ENG) majors. Using social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), we examined the relationships of social cognitive variables (math/science academic self-efficacy, math/science outcome expectations)—as well as the influence of ethnic variables (ethnic identity, other-group orientation) and perceptions of campus climate—to students' math/science interests and goal commitment to earn a BIO/ENG degree. Path analysis revealed that the hypothesized model provided good overall fit to the data, revealing significant relationships between outcome expectations and interests and between outcome expectations and goals. Paths from academic self-efficacy to BIO/ENG goals and from interests to BIO/ENG goals varied for students in engineering and the biological sciences. For both groups, other-group orientation was positively related to self-efficacy, and support was found for an efficacy-mediated relationship between perceived campus climate and goals. Theoretical and practical implications of the study's findings are considered as well as future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a 4-year longitudinal study, the authors investigated effects of retention in first grade on children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors; social acceptance; and behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement. From a large multiethnic sample (n = 784) of children below the median on literacy at school entrance, 124 retained children were matched with 251 promoted children on the basis of propensity scores (probability of being retained in first grade estimated from 72 baseline variables). Relative to promoted children, retained children were found to benefit from retention in both the short and longer terms with respect to decreased teacher-rated hyperactivity, decreased peer-rated sadness and withdrawal, and increased teacher-rated behavioral engagement. Retained children had a short-term increase in mean peer-rated liking and school belongingness relative to promoted children, but this advantage showed a substantial decrease in the longer term. Retention had a positive short-term effect on children's perceived school belonging and a positive longer term effect on perceived academic self-efficacy. Retention may bestow advantages in the short-term, but longer term detrimental effects on social acceptance may lead to the documented longer term negative effects of retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of change in teacher goal emphases on students' efficacy beliefs in mathematics across the transition to middle school. The sample (N = 929) included primarily White (65%) and Black (27%) students, and approximately one third received free or reduced-fee lunch. Analyses grouped children by cross-classification of teachers (N = 53 elementary and N = 34 middle school teachers). On average, students' efficacy beliefs remained stable and relatively high across the transition. Compared with their elementary school teacher, children reported declines in both perceived teacher mastery and performance goal emphases in middle school. A cross-classified hierarchical linear model was used to estimate the effects of perceived teacher and parent goal emphases during 6th and 7th grades on changes in students' efficacy beliefs. An increase in self-efficacy beliefs from elementary to middle school was predicted by an increase in group-level perceptions of teachers' mastery goal emphasis, even after controlling for parents' goal emphases. These findings underscore the important role that both teachers' and parents' goal emphases play as children develop a sense of efficacy in mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four studies present the validation of a self-report scale capturing academic entitlement, which is defined as the tendency to possess an expectation of academic success without a sense of personal responsibility for achieving that success. The Academic Entitlement scale possesses a 2-factor structure (Study 1); 10 items measure students' Externalized Responsibility for their academic success, and 5 items measure students' self-serving Entitled Expectations about professors and course policies. In Study 2, the Externalized Responsibility subscale correlated positively with related measures of entitlement, grandiosity, and narcissism, and it was negatively related to self-esteem, personal control, need for cognition, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. In Study 3, participants rated various responses to academic situations selected by university instructors as highly inappropriate or highly appropriate. The Academic Entitlement scale predicted students' ratings of the appropriateness of these student behaviors as well as the likelihood that they themselves would engage in these behaviors. In a laboratory setting, individuals with high Academic Entitlement scores evaluated the researcher more negatively than those with low Academic Entitlement scores (Study 4). Practical applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies were carried out to predict academic success in the highly competitive environment of a private preparatory school, Choate Rosemary Hall. The 1st study focused on the question of whether there are indicators beyond middle school grade-point average (GPA) and standardized test scores that might enhance the validity of measures for predicting success of students attending Choate. The results indicated the importance of taking into account aspects of self-regulated learning (SRL), such as academic self-efficacy, academic motivation, academic locus of control, and measures of the WICS (Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity Synthesized) theoretical framework. Both sets of SRL and WICS indicators demonstrated incremental validity in predicting success at Choate. The 2nd study preliminarily evaluated the value of including indicators of aspects of the SRL and the WICS theoretical framework into the Choate admission process. The results of this study examined the utility of using quantified indicators other than middle-school GPA and standardized test scores for making admission decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Validity of the 2 x 2 achievement goal framework for school-aged children and adolescents was examined, using self-report responses from 1,196 Korean elementary and middle school students. Confirmatory factor analysis models hypothesizing 4 distinct achievement goal factors demonstrated the best fit in all age groups. Nevertheless, achievement goals of these young students were strongly correlated with each other, regardless of the goal definition or valence. The correlation became increasingly weaker with the increasing age of the respondents. Students in Grades 1-4 endorsed a mastery-approach goal most strongly, but those in Grades 5-9 endorsed a performance-approach goal. Performance-avoidance and mastery-avoidance goals received significantly lower average ratings than did the 2 approach goals in all age groups. Whereas both mastery-approach and performance-approach goals correlated positively with self-efficacy, strategy use, and performance in math, only the performance-approach goal correlated positively with anxiety. Anxiety also correlated positively with the 2 avoidance goals. A performance-avoidance goal further demonstrated positive correlation with help-seeking avoidance, whereas a mastery-avoidance goal did so with strategy use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results from prior research indicate that a student's academic self-concept is negatively influenced by the achievement of others in his or her school (a frame of reference effect) and that this negative frame of reference effect is not or only slightly reduced by the quality, standing, or prestige of the track or school attended (a "reflected glory" effect). Going beyond prior studies, the present research used both between-school and within-school approaches to investigate frame of reference and reflected glory effects in education, incorporating students' own perceptions of the standing of their school and class. Multilevel analyses were performed with data from 3 large-scale assessments with 4,810, 1,502, and 4,247 students, respectively. Findings from all 3 studies showed that, given comparable individual achievement, placement in high-achieving learning groups was associated with comparatively low academic self-concepts. However, students' academic self-concept was not merely a reflection of their relative position within the class but also substantively associated with their individual and shared perceptions of the class's standing. Moreover, the negative effects of being placed in high-achieving learning groups were weaker for high-achieving students. Overall, the studies support both educational and social psychology theorizing on social comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reacting to the Past is a pedagogy involving collaborative role playing in history-based games over a semester. This article presents results from a systematic assessment of this novel pedagogy conducted in 3 phases following student focus group interviews. Interviews indicated that the method was generally popular compared with traditional pedagogies, although several concerns about the course were raised. Quasi-experimental procedures were then used to examine consequences of the pedagogy on psychosocial variables and skill development at both the host (Phase 1) and affiliated (Phase 2) institutions. In both phases, students in Reacting to the Past showed elevated self-esteem and empathy, a more external locus of control, and greater endorsement of the belief that human characteristics are malleable compared with controls. Rhetorical skills were enhanced, but writing skills were unaffected. Phase 3 investigated individual differences in predicting course enjoyment and performance. Although individual differences correlated with enjoyment of the pedagogy, they were generally unrelated to grades received. These findings suggest that this role-playing pedagogy adds diversity to student experience while producing some beneficial psychological consequences and improvement in academic skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than 2 decades, big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) research has demonstrated that students in high-ability classes and schools have lower academic self-concepts than their equally able counterparts in mixed-ability schools. However, cross-cultural BFLPE research has been limited to mostly developed and individualist countries. Using the Program for International Student Assessment database (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005a, 2005b), the present investigation assessed the BFLPE in 41 culturally and economically diverse countries. In support of the BFLPE, the effect of school-average self-concept was negative for the total sample (effect size =-.49), negative for each of the 41 countries considered separately, and statistically significant in 38 countries. In this large, culturally diverse sample of countries, the BFLPE was evident in both collectivist and individualist cultures and in economically developing and developed nations. Implications for BFLPE theory and educational practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors propose a theoretical model linking achievement goals and achievement emotions to academic performance. This model was tested in a prospective study with undergraduates (N = 213), using exam-specific assessments of both goals and emotions as predictors of exam performance in an introductory-level psychology course. The findings were consistent with the authors' hypotheses and supported all aspects of the proposed model. In multiple regression analysis, achievement goals (mastery, performance approach, and performance avoidance) were shown to predict discrete achievement emotions (enjoyment, boredom, anger, hope, pride, anxiety, hopelessness, and shame), achievement emotions were shown to predict performance attainment, and 7 of the 8 focal emotions were documented as mediators of the relations between achievement goals and performance attainment. All of these findings were shown to be robust when controlling for gender, social desirability, positive and negative trait affectivity, and scholastic ability. The results are discussed with regard to the underdeveloped literature on discrete achievement emotions and the need to integrate conceptual and applied work on achievement goals and achievement emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the link between perceived peer victimization and academic adjustment in an ethnically diverse sample of 1,895 Grade 6 students nested within 108 school classes. It was hypothesized that students' academic self-efficacy mediates the (negative) link between victimization experiences and academic achievement outcomes. Multilevel analyses were used to test this hypothesis and to explore whether there are differences between ethnic minority and majority group children. Results indicated that peer victimization was negatively associated with both relative class-based, and absolute test-based measures of academic achievement. These associations were similar across different school classes. As expected, the link between victimization and achievement was mediated by perceived academic self-efficacy, suggesting that victimized students did less well academically because they considered themselves to be less competent. The lower perceived self-efficacy of victimized children could be partly attributed to lower global self-esteem and depressed affect. Results were largely similar for ethnic minority and majority group children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors performed path analysis, followed by a bootstrap procedure, to test the predictions of a model explaining the relationships among students' distal future goals (both extrinsic and intrinsic), their adoption of a middle-range subgoal, their perceptions of task instrumentality, and their proximal task-oriented self-regulation strategies. The model was based on R. B. Miller and S. J. Brickman's (2004) conceptualization of future-oriented motivation and self-regulation, which draws primarily from social-cognitive and self-determination theories. Participants were 421 college students who completed a questionnaire that included scales measuring the 5 variables of interest. Data supported the model, suggesting that students' distal future goals (intrinsic future goals in particular) may be related to their middle-range college graduation subgoal, to their perceptions of task instrumentality, and to their adoption of proximal task-oriented self-regulation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the developmental course of perceived efficacy for self-regulated learning and its contribution to academic achievement and likelihood of remaining in school in a sample of 412 Italian students (48% males and 52% females ranging in age from 12 to 22 years). Latent growth curve analysis revealed a progressive decline in self-regulatory efficacy from junior to senior high school, with males experiencing the greater reduction. The lower the decline in self-regulatory efficacy, the higher the high school grades and the greater the likelihood of remaining in high school controlling for socioeconomic status. Reciprocal cross-lagged models revealed that high perceived efficacy for self-regulated learning in junior high school contributed to junior high school grades and self-regulatory efficacy in high school, which partially mediated the relation of junior high grades on high school grades and the likelihood of remaining in school. Socioeconomic status contributed to high school grades only mediationally through junior high grades and to school drop out both directly and mediationally through junior high grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies integrate the big-fish--little-pond effect (BFLPE; negative effects of class-average achievement on academic self-concept, ASC), which is based upon educational psychological research, with related social psychological research that is based on social comparison theory. Critical distinctions are the nature of the social comparison processes that are based on generalized-other (class- or school-average) or individual (target comparison classmate) comparisons, and the nature of self-belief constructs that invoke normative (social comparison) or absolute frames of reference. In a large cross-national study (26 countries; 3,851 schools; 103,558 students), school-average ability negatively affected ASC but had little effect on 4 other self-belief constructs that did not invoke social comparison processes. In Study 2 (64 classes; 764 students), 2 sources of social comparison information (class-average achievement and achievement of an individually selected target comparison classmate) each had distinct, substantial negative effects on agency self-beliefs that invoked social comparison processes but not on metacognitive responses that did not invoke these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study of 397 undergraduate students examined relations between self-reported control, goal orientation, future time perspective, affect, and strategic self-regulation. Five patterns were found in three canonical dimensions. The high end of bipolar Dimension 1 linked high self-regulated strategy use and study effort to high self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and effort causal attribution; high mastery and performance approach and low work avoidance goal orientations; and positive affect. The low end of Dimension 1 linked low strategy use and effort to low self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and effort causal attribution; high work avoidance goal orientation; and low affect. The high end of bipolar Dimension 2 linked knowledge-building strategies, but not active self-regulation or study effort, to high self-efficacy, outcome expectancy for learning but not grades, and affect causal attribution; high mastery goal orientation; and positive affect. The low end of Dimension 2 linked surface learning, consisting of active self-regulation and study effort but not personal knowledge building, to high effort causal attribution but low self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. Unipolar Dimension 3 linked learned helplessness to high outcome expectancy and external causal attribution but low self-efficacy; high work avoidance goal orientation; and high negative affect and anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the benefits and efficacy of psychiatric rehabilitation (PSR) in the supervision of the students. The authors relate that PSR supervision model is a person-centered recovery-oriented approach that focuses on the student's learning, empowerment, growth and respect. It mentions that without using skill, strengths and environmental resources, it attempts to remove the barriers which prevent the individual from reaching its goal. The authors add that values and expectations regarding power, growth, choice and cultural diversity are also discussed and included in the PSR model of supervision. Furthermore, the authors suggest that PSR supervision and the PSR-based treatment can change the individuals and the practicing environment through collaborative working .