Motivation as a Mediator of Social Disparities in Academic Achievement

Does Students' Level of Intelligence Moderate the Relationship Between Socio-Economic Status and Academic Achievement?

The association between school students' social background and school achievement is well documented. Recent studies demonstrated that this association might be moderated by the level of cognitive potential. Based on these results, we recruited an elementary school sample (N = 837) and an adolescent sample at the end of their compulsory school time (N = 2100) to investigate whether the associations between students' social background and their academic achievement in math and language arts were moderated by the level of their general cognitive competencies, i.e., intelligence. To this end, we assessed intelligence, math and reading competencies, teacher-reported grades, and students' socio-economic background (number of books at home). In both samples, the association between students' socio-economic background and language arts grades was moderated by their intelligence level but not the ones with math grades, reading, and math competencies. The association between socio-economic background and language arts grades was strongest in the average intelligence sample and smaller in the above-average intelligence sample. Results are discussed with regard to their implications for the discussion of social injustice in schools.

Self-perceptions as mechanisms of achievement inequality: evidence across 70 countries

Children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds tend to have more negative self-perceptions. More negative self-perceptions are often related to lower academic achievement. Linking these findings, we asked: Do children's self-perceptions help explain socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement around the world? We addressed this question using data from the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, including n = 520,729 records of 15-year-old students from 70 countries. We studied five self-perceptions (self-perceived competency, self-efficacy, growth mindset, sense of belonging, and fear of failure) and assessed academic achievement in terms of reading achievement. As predicted, across countries, children's self-perceptions jointly and separately partially mediated the association between socioeconomic status and reading achievement, explaining additional 11% (ΔR2 = 0.105) of the variance in reading achievement. The positive mediation effect of self-perceived competency was more pronounced in countries with higher social mobility, indicating the importance of environments that "afford" the use of beneficial self-perceptions. While the results tentatively suggest self-perceptions, in general, to be an important lever to address inequality, interventions targeting self-perceived competency might be particularly effective in counteracting educational inequalities in countries with higher social mobility.

The relevance of basic psychological needs and subject interest as explanatory variables for student dropout in higher education — a German case study using the example of a cooperative education program

Student dropout in higher education is a challenge for higher education systems. In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on analyzing motivational aspects in order to counteract dropout. However, the detailed impact mechanisms and processes of motivation on dropout have not been sufficiently researched. For example, there is very little research analyzing the preconditions of motivation and their influence on motivation as well as their eventual influence on dropout. From the background of self-determination theory and the person-object theory of interest, this study analyzes the effects of satisfying the three basic psychological needs on dropout via subject interest. We use data from a cross-sectional design with N = 2662 cooperative students in their first academic year. Our analysis identifies a direct effect of relatedness and subject interest on dropout. Furthermore, indirect effects of satisfying basic psychological needs, specifically, autonomy and relatedness, on dropout via subject interest are noted. We evaluate our results in the context of the current state of research and discuss implications.

High achievers, Schadenfreude and Gluckschmerz in New Zealanders and Chinese

The willingness to support (or denigrate) high-profile individuals online was examined across cultures using the Tall Poppy Scale. A sample of 106 Chinese and 164 New Zealand Europeans answered an online questionnaire addressing their preference for high achievers to be rewarded or fail. Participants were asked whether they would vote to support reality TV contestants, and offered further information (about success or failure) on a debrief page. The Favour Reward scale predicted willingness to vote and support others. The Favour Fall subscale tended to predict time spent viewing achievement-related information on a debrief page. The Chinese sample did not prefer reward of high achievers, instead favoring their fall, but spent less time per click on the debrief page, suggesting they disliked recognizing individual achievement.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Student Reading Achievement: Findings From a School Panel Study

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on education worldwide. There is increased discussion of possible negative effects on students’ learning outcomes and the need for targeted support. We examined fourth graders’ reading achievement based on a school panel study, representative on the student level, with N = 111 elementary schools in Germany (total: N = 4,290 students, age: 9–10 years). The students were tested with the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study instruments in 2016 and 2021. The analysis focused on (1) total average differences in reading achievement between 2016 and 2021, (2) average differences controlling for student composition, and (3) changes in achievement gaps between student subgroups (i.e., immigration background, socio-cultural capital, and gender). The methodological approach met international standards for the analysis of large-scale assessments (i.e., multiple multi-level imputation, plausible values, and clustered mixed-effect regression). The results showed a substantial decline in mean reading achievement. The decline corresponds to one-third of a year of learning, even after controlling for changes in student composition. We found no statistically significant changes of achievement gaps between student subgroups, despite numerical tendencies toward a widening of achievement gaps between students with and without immigration background. It is likely that this sharp achievement decline was related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings are discussed in terms of further research needs, practical implications for educating current student cohorts, and educational policy decisions regarding actions in crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring the interplay between socioeconomic status and reading achievement: An expectancy-value perspective

BACKGROUND

Socioeconomic status (SES) and motivation are both important predictors of student achievement. However, most studies have investigated these factors separately, and very few have looked into the interplay between SES and motivation as determinants of student reading achievement.

AIMS

We intend to bridge this gap by examining a model of SES predicting reading achievement through motivation (i.e., expectancy and value) at both student and school levels.

SAMPLE

We used the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 of 26,281 students from four regions in Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taipei).

METHODS

We used multi-group multilevel path analysis to test whether SES would predict reading achievement mediated by expectancy and value in student and school levels across four regions, with gender as a covariate.

RESULTS

Results showed that at the student level, SES significantly predicted reading achievement indirectly through both expectancy and value across four regions. At the school level, the relationship between school SES and school reading achievement was mostly direct.

CONCLUSION

The study was able to demonstrate the motivational gap as a pathway in which economic inequality can contribute to students' reading achievement gap.

Teaching and learning during the first COVID-19 school lockdown: Realization and associations with parent-perceived students' academic outcomes

Abstract. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all schools in Germany were locked down for several months in 2020. How schools realized teaching during the school lockdown greatly varied from school to school. N = 2,647 parents participated in an online survey and rated the following activities of teachers in mathematics, language arts (German), English, and science/biology during the school lockdown: frequency of sending task assignments, task solutions and requesting for solutions, giving task-related feedback, grading tasks, providing lessons per videoconference, and communicating via telecommunication tools with students and/or parents. Parents also reported student academic outcomes during the school lockdown (child's learning motivation, competent and independent learning, learning progress). Parents further reported student characteristics and social background variables: child's negative emotionality, school engagement, mathematical and language competencies, and child's social and cultural capital. Data were separately analyzed for elementary and secondary schools. In both samples, frequency of student-teacher communication was associated with all academic outcomes, except for learning progress in elementary school. Frequency of parent-teacher communication was associated with motivation and learning progress, but not with competent and independent learning, in both samples. Other distant teaching activities were differentially related to students' academic outcomes in elementary vs. secondary school. School engagement explained most additional variance in all students' outcomes during the school lockdown. Parent's highest school leaving certificate incrementally predicted students' motivation, and competent and independent learning in secondary school, as well as learning progress in elementary school. The variable “child has own bedroom” additionally explained variance in students' competent and independent learning during the school lockdown in both samples. Thus, both teaching activities during the school lockdown as well as children's characteristics and social background were independently important for students' motivation, competent and independent learning, and learning progress. Results are discussed with regard to their practical implications for realizing distant teaching.

Explaining Social Disparities in Mathematical Achievement: The Role of Motivation

This study examined the role of motivation as a mediator of the relationship between parents’ socio–economic status (SES) and children's standardized test achievement in math. We employed a one–year longitudinal approach using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 and a follow–up exam in 2004. The sample consisted of N = 6020 German students (mean age 15.5 years, SD = .55) who continued school after Grade 9 (PISA 2003) and were in Grade 10 at the time of PISA 2004. Children completed measures related to their parents’ SES, math–specific self–concept, task–specific and global self–efficacy, and interest, intelligence and mathematical competence. We found a small to moderate correlation between parents’ SES and children's achievement. All motivational constructs partially mediated the relationship between father's SES as well as a family index for SES (economic, social, and cultural status) and children's mathematical competence, but only math–specific self–concept and self–efficacy were significant mediators for mother's SES. Even when simultaneously considering the mediating effect of children's intelligence and prior achievement, the mediation effects of motivation remained significant. These results are important for our understanding of educational equality. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology

Motives emanating from personality associated with achievement in a Finnish senior high school: Physical activity, curiosity, and family motives

Numerous studies indicate that intrinsic motivation predicts academic achievement. However, relatively few have examined various subtypes of intrinsic motivation that predict overall achievement, such as motivation for exercise and physical activity. Based upon the 16 basic desires theory of personality, the current study examined the motives of 178 senior high school (gymnasium) students (mean age = 17.6, range = 16–20) from Finland, using the Reiss School Motivation Profile. In structural equation models that controlled for gender and age, intellectual curiosity was positively associated with achievement, whereas the family motive was negatively associated with achievement. Boys had a higher intellectual curiosity and a lower family motive than girls. The physical activity motive had a significant negative interaction with intellectual curiosity, such that youth with higher intellectual curiosity had the strongest achievement when their physical activity motive was lower. This suggests that adolescents with a strong desire for exercise may have some difficulty in selective high schools that require rigorous study and long hours of sitting, even when they enjoy learning. Implications for motivational theory, education research, physical education for promoting fitness, and school psychology practice are discussed.

Adolescents' academic achievement and life satisfaction: the role of parents' education

Drawing on the background of positive psychology, there has only recently been a focus on adolescents’ life satisfaction (LS) in the context of education. Studies examining the relationship between adolescents’ academic achievement and LS have shown conflicting results and the reasons are not fully understood. The present study investigated the role of parents’ education as a potential moderator of the relationship between adolescents’ academic achievement and LS. A sample of German high school students (N = 411) reported parents’ educational attainment, as an indicator of family socio-economic status, and students’ academic achievement was operationalized by grade point average in five subjects. Results indicated that only mothers’ education functioned as a moderator of the relationship between academic achievement and students’ LS. The association between academic achievement and LS was only found in the group of students whose mothers had achieved the same or a higher education (at least high school diploma) as their own children. Fathers’ educational attainment, however, was not a significant moderator of the respective relationship. Directions for future research and the differential influences of fathers’ and mothers’ education are discussed with regard to potential underlying processes.