Sources of academic and self-regulatory efficacy beliefs of entering middle school students

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of Bandura’s (1997) hypothesized sources of self-efficacy on the academic and self-regulatory efficacy beliefs of entering middle school students (N = 263) and to explore whether these sources differ as a function of gender, reading ability, and race/ethnicity. For the full sample, mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, and physiological state independently predicted academic and self-regulatory self-efficacy, with mastery experience proving the strongest predictor. Mastery experience and social persuasions predicted girls’ academic and self-regulatory self-efficacy, whereas mastery and vicarious experiences predicted these self-beliefs for boys. African American students’ mastery experiences and social persuasions predicted their academic self-efficacy. Mastery experience did not predict the self-efficacy beliefs of low-achieving students. Findings support and refine the theoretical tenets of Bandura’s social cognitive theory.     

Social models in the cognitive appraisal of self-efficacy information

The purpose of this investigation was to test (a) whether students distinguished between self-efficacy sources according to social model and (b) how predictive the self-efficacy information students received from each social model was for their self-efficacy beliefs. For this purpose, new vicarious experience and social persuasion scales were developed that independently assess the respective source of self-efficacy information conveyed by three social models, family members, teachers, and peers. As revealed by exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and multitrait-multimethod analysis, the Korean high school students in Studies 1 (N = 395) and 3 (N = 393) and the Korean college students in Study 2 (N = 220) clearly distinguished between the self-efficacy sources and the social models who delivered this information (family members, teachers, or peers). Student responses to vicarious experience fluctuated more by social model than did their responses to social persuasion. The correlations further suggest the possibility that the existing scale largely taps vicarious experience from teachers and peers rather than vicarious experience from family members. The predictive utility of vicarious experience and social persuasion for self-efficacy also varied according to the social model involved and by the academic domain. Social persuasion by teachers predicted student self-efficacy in mathematics, while vicarious experience from teachers predicted student self-efficacy in English as a foreign language, in addition to mastery experience and physiological state.     

A test of theoretical models that account for information processing demands

This study tested four theoretical models in terms of their fit with demands placed on our cognitive system by traditional tests of cognitive ability. We did so by administering seven tests of cognitive ability known to require varying types of processing demands to a large group of college undergraduates (N = 193). We compared the models using confirmatory factor analyses, including those based upon a unitary factor, speed and capacity, crystallized and fluid intelligence, and verbal and spatial ability. The crystallized/fluid model provided the best fit with the data. This finding is consistent with previous research. Implications for education and future research are discussed.     

Testing interest and self-efficacy as predictors of academic self-regulation and achievement

We examined whether individual interest, as an affective motivational variable, could predict academic self-regulation and achievement, above and beyond what academic self-efficacy predicted. We tested the relationships between academic self-efficacy, individual interest, grade goals, self-regulation, and achievement of Korean middle school students (N = 500) in four different subject areas. Consistent with previous findings, self-efficacy predicted achievement both directly and indirectly via grade goals. Self-efficacy also predicted self-regulation, but only when grade goals mediated the relationship. Supporting our hypothesis, individual interest functioned as a correlated yet independent and direct predictor of self-regulation. It also predicted achievement, but only when self-regulation mediated the relationship. We thus suggest that academic self-regulation could be encouraged through the promotion of two distinct motivational sources, academic self-efficacy and individual interest. We further suggest that the pathways linking individual interest to academic self-regulation and achievement may differ from those linking academic self-efficacy to the same variables.     

Feedback providing improvement strategies and reflection on feedback use: Effects on students’ writing motivation, process, and performance

This study investigated the effects of feedback providing improvement strategies and a reflection assignment on students’ writing motivation, process, and performance. Students in the experimental feedback condition (n = 41) received feedback including improvement strategies, whereas students in the control feedback condition (n = 41) received feedback without improvement strategies. Within each feedback condition, half of the students received a reflection assignment on feedback use and the revision (experimental reflection condition), while the other half received a reflection assignment on feedback perception (control reflection condition). Results indicated that in the experimental feedback condition writing performance gained from the control reflection assignment, while in the control feedback condition it gained from the experimental reflection assignment. Improvement strategies negatively predicted self-efficacy beliefs, especially when initial self-efficacy beliefs were low, and positively predicted planning/revising. Reflections on feedback use and the revision positively predicted mastery goal when mastery goal initially was low or moderate.     

Development and validation of the groupwork skills questionnaire (GSQ) for higher education

The aim of the present study was to develop and provide psychometric evidence in support of the groupwork skills questionnaire (GSQ) for measuring task and interpersonal groupwork skills. A 46-item version of the GSQ was initially completed by 672 university students. The number of items was reduced to 15 following exploratory factor analyses, and a two-factor model consisting of task and interpersonal groupwork skills was revealed. Confirmatory factor analyses with model re-specification on new data (n = 275 students) established that the best fitting model consisted of 10 items and the same two factors (task and interpersonal). Concurrent validity of the GSQ was then determined with 145 participants by demonstrating significant relationships (p < 0.05) with attitudes towards groupwork and groupwork self-efficacy. Test–retest reliability was examined over a one-week interval. Overall, the GSQ demonstrates good validity and reliability, and has potential for both research and pedagogical application.     

Impact of HIPPY on home learning environments of Latino families

This study investigated effects of Home Instruction of Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), a paraprofessional home visiting program, on parents and children. The program site served low-income, Spanish-speaking families. On average, mothers were 31 years old (SD = 4.78) and children were 3 or 4 years old (M = 3.92, SD = .92). Participants (n = 54) had more parenting self-efficacy and more enriched home environments than families on a waiting list (n = 54). In a regression on home environment, participation in the intervention was a stronger predictor than maternal education, depression, and stress. A third-grade follow-up of children in the program showed significantly higher math achievement when compared to low-income Latino third graders in the same school district. These findings appear to validate the HIPPY model, which suggests that parents gain confidence as their children's teachers through their experiences in the program. HIPPY successfully addresses the need for culturally sensitive programming aimed at improving educational achievement among minority children.     

Influences of family based prerequisites,reading attitude,and self-regulation on reading ability

This study investigated the effect of self-regulated learning, as indicated by academic self-concept, motivation and learning strategies, reading attitude and family based prerequisites on reading ability. Students (n = 4018) in the eighth grade answered the IEA reading literacy test, the self-regulated learning questionnaire and a student questionnaire about their background. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed that the self-regulated learning questionnaire did not measure the intended three dimensions, but only two: Verbal/General academic self-concept and a new dimension called Goal oriented strategies. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with a cross-validation sample was conducted to determine the effects in the final model. The strongest effect on reading ability was from Verbal/General academic self-concept (β = .43 for final and β = .56 for cross-validation model). Gender differences revealed that girls read better on narrative and expository texts, had a more positive reading attitude, and more positive verbal self-concept, whereas boys had a higher academic self-concept (not domain-specific), self-efficacy, control expectation, reported more memorising, elaboration, and instrumental motivation (all differences p < .001).     

Touch your toes! Developing a direct measure of behavioral regulation in early childhood

Behavioral aspects of self-regulation, including controlling and directing actions, paying attention, and remembering instructions, are critical for successful functioning in preschool and elementary school. In recent years, several direct assessments of these skills have appeared, but few studies provide complete psychometric data and many are not easy to administer. We developed a direct measure of children's behavioral regulation, the Head-to-Toes Task, and report performance of participants aged 36–78 months, including a group of Spanish-speaking children, from two different sites (N = 353; N = 92). We examined construct validity, examiner reliability, sources of variation, and associations between task scores and background characteristics. Results showed that the task was valid, reliable, and demonstrated variability in children's scores. A cross-classified hierarchical growth curve analysis indicated that girls, participants assessed in English, and higher-socioeconomic status (SES) children achieved slightly higher average scores than did boys, Spanish-speaking and lower-SES children, but effect sizes were small. Older participants achieved higher scores than did younger children, and there were no effects for site. Results suggest that the Head-to-Toes Task is an informative and easy-to-administer direct assessment of children's behavioral regulation. We discuss implications for its use in early childhood settings.     

Getting to know my teacher: Does the relation between perceived mastery goal structures and perceived teacher support change across the school year?

We investigated the relation of students’ perceptions of mastery goal structure and of teacher support. Original formulations of achievement goal theory proposed that social–relational aspects of classrooms were integral to perceptions of a mastery goal structure, but these components have not survived in current conceptions of goal theory. Recent studies have found that student perceptions of mastery goal structure and of teacher support are highly interrelated, if not identical constructs. We propose that the interrelations between these perceptions may, in fact, emerge over time, as suggested by Tharp, Estrada, Dalton, and Yamauchi’s (2000) four stage model of the development of intersubjectivity between students and teachers. Students in grade 6 (N = 1197, 65 classrooms) and in grade 7 (N = 1036, 37 classrooms) reported perceptions of the mastery goal structure and of teacher support in the fall and the spring. Structural equation models with maximum likelihood estimation were used to test two competing models. We hypothesized that student perceptions of mastery goal structures and of teacher support were separate constructs in the fall, but converged by spring. The hypothesized model fit the data better than the alternative model for 6th and 7th grade students. Our findings both replicated those of others, and suggest that students’ perceptions of classroom environments develop over time. Theoretical implications include the reexamination of current conceptualizations of mastery goal structure and the stability of motivational constructs. Methodological implications include timing measurement occasions to assess possible changes in perceptions during the school year.     

Achievement goals and self-efficacy: A meta-analysis

This meta-analysis examined the relations between achievement goals and self-efficacy. One hundred and twenty-five studies consisting of 148 samples (N = 61,456) reporting the relations between academic achievement goals and academic self-efficacy were included. The correlations of mastery and mastery approach goals with self-efficacy were generally moderate to strong, while those of performance avoidance and mastery avoidance goals with self-efficacy were low. Goal valence was meaningfully related to self-efficacy, whereas the support for the goal definition was inconsistent. Publication status, proportion of males, mean age, and achievement goal measure did not exert significant moderating effects, whereas those for country where the research was conducted, the proportion of Caucasians, the self-efficacy measure, the domains of achievement goals and self-efficacy, and matching between achievement goal and self-efficacy domains varied with the achievement goal factor. The four-factor model was based on a relatively small number of samples, and so future research is needed to determine whether there are differences in correlations of mastery avoidance and performance avoidance goals with antecedents and consequences.     

Adaptive and effortful control and academic self-efficacy beliefs on achievement: A longitudinal study of 1st through 3rd graders

The linkages between self-regulatory processes and achievement were examined across 3 years in 733 children beginning at 1st grade (M = 6.57 years, S.D. = .39 at 1st grade) who were identified as lower achieving in literacy. Accounting for consistencies in measures (from 1 year prior) and for influences of child's age, gender, IQ, ethnicity and economic adversity on achievement, results indicate that adaptive/effortful control at 1st grade contributed to both academic self-efficacy beliefs at 2nd grade, and reading (but not math) achievement at 3rd grade. Although academic self-efficacy did not partially mediate the linkage between adaptive/effortful control and achievement, academic self-efficacy beliefs were positively correlated with reading and math. Results support the notion that early efforts to promote children's self-regulatory skills would enhance future academic self-beliefs and achievement, particularly in literacy.     

Poly-victimization among juvenile justice-involved youths

Objectives

This study replicates and extends the research literature on poly-victimization with a vulnerable and under-served population, juvenile justice-involved youths.

Methods

N = 1959, 10–16 year old youths (76% male; 74% youth of color) consecutively newly admitted to juvenile detention facilities completed psychometric measures of trauma history, posttraumatic stress, affect regulation, alcohol/drug use, suicide risk, and somatic complaints.

Results

Using latent class analysis derived from 19 types of adversity, three unique classes best fit the data. A poly-victim class (49% female, 51% youth of color) accounted for 5% of the sample and reported a mean of 11.4 (SD = 1.1) types. A relatively moderate adversity class (31% female, 70% youth of color) accounted for 36% of the sample and reported a mean of 8.9 (SD = 0.3) types of adversity and 2.65 (SD = 1.1) types of traumatic adversity. A low adversity class (59% of the sample; 17% female, 78% youth of color) reported a mean of 7.4 (SD = 0.4) adversity types but only 0.3 (SD = 0.45) types of traumatic adversity. The relatively moderate adversity class was comparable to poly-victims in endorsing extensive non-victimization traumatic adversity (e.g., accidental and loss trauma), but poly-victims were distinct from both moderate and low adversity class members in the likelihood of reporting all but one type of traumatic victimization, multiple types of traumatic victimization, and severe emotional and behavioral problems. Girls were at particularly high risk of poly-victimization, and African American and White youths also were at risk for poly-victimization.

Conclusions

Although youth involved in the juvenile justice system typically have experienced substantial victimization, a poly-victimized sub-group, especially (but not exclusively) girls, warrants particular scientific, clinical, and rehabilitative attention in order to address the most severe behavioral and mental health problems and risks faced by this vulnerable population.     

Views on using portfolio in teacher education

The usage of portfolio methods to document professional development in teaching is increasing in Germany, but despite its proliferation, the issue of how the effects of portfolio methods can be determined has received little attention. This paper investigates the acceptance of portfolio by the pre-service teachers (N = 144, 112 female) and the effects of portfolio on their professional attitudes and competences. In addition, N = 15 teacher educators were interviewed on their assessment of the portfolio method. Results suggest that the efficiency of the portfolio method depends both on personal competences and on the framing within the training program.     

Implicit theories of ability of Grade 6 science students: Relation to epistemological beliefs and academic motivation and achievement in science

We investigated: (a) the associations of implicit theories and epistemological beliefs and their effects on the academic motivation and achievement of students in Grade 6 science and (b) the mean differences of implicit theories, epistemological beliefs, and academic motivation and achievement as a function of gender and race/ethnicity (N = 508). Path analysis revealed that an incremental view of ability had direct and indirect effects on adaptive motivational factors, whereas fixed entity views had direct and indirect effects on maladaptive factors. Epistemological beliefs mediated the influence of implicit theories of ability on achievement goal orientations, self-efficacy, and science achievement. Results are discussed in relation to Dweck and Leggett’s (1988) social-cognitive theory with a focus on middle school science.     

Trust and mistrust when students read multiple information sources about climate change

The present study investigated how undergraduates judged the trustworthiness of different information sources that they read about climate change. Results showed that participants (N = 128) judged information from textbook and official documents to be more trustworthy than information from newspapers and a commercial agent. Moreover, participants put most emphasis on content and least emphasis on date of publication when judging document trustworthiness. When judging the trustworthiness of the textbook, they emphasized criteria differently than when evaluating other types of documents. Results also indicated that readers low in topic knowledge were more likely to trust less trustworthy sources and failed to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant criteria when judging the trustworthiness of sources.     

An intervention for relational and physical aggression in early childhood: A preliminary study

A preventive intervention for reducing physical and relational aggression, peer victimization, and increasing prosocial behavior was developed for use in early childhood classrooms. Nine classrooms were randomly assigned to be intervention rooms (N = 202 children) and nine classrooms were control rooms (N = 201 children). Classroom was the unit of analysis and both observations and teacher-reports were obtained at pre and post-test. Focus groups were used to develop the initial program. The 6-week program consisted of developmentally appropriate puppet shows, active participatory sessions, passive concept activities and in vivo reinforcement periods. Preliminary findings suggest that the “Early Childhood Friendship Project” tended to reduce physical and relational aggression, as well as physical and relational victimization and tended to increase prosocial behavior more for intervention than control classrooms. Teachers and interventionists provided positive evaluations of the program and there is evidence for appropriate program implementation.     

Better together: Effects of four self-efficacy-building strategies on online statistical learning

The goal of this study is to test the individual and combined effects of supplementing an online statistics lesson with four motivational strategies corresponding to Bandura’s (1997) four sources of self-efficacy (anxiety coping, modeling, mental practice, and effort feedback) on cognitive, motivational, and affective outcomes. Internet participants (N = 279) completed an online statistics module in one of six conditions with one or all four self-efficacy-building strategies (5 treatment conditions) or none of these strategies (control condition). The results indicated that the four strategies worked effectively in combination, significantly improving transfer test scores (d = 0.608), increasing self-efficacy ratings (d = 0.696), and reducing task anxiety ratings (d = −0.534), as compared with the control condition. By contrast, no motivational strategy alone was effective. The results suggest the importance of taking advantage of the power of all four sources of self-efficacy information in combination when designing motivational interventions for online mathematical lessons.     

Age-related differences in the relation between motivation to learn and transfer of training in adult continuing education

This meta-analysis (k = 38, N = 6977) examined age-related differences in the relation between motivation to learn and transfer of training, using data derived from the literature on adult continuing education of the past 25 years. Based on socioemotional selectivity theory, a lifespan approach to expectancy theory, and research on interest and workplace curiosity, two views on motivational change over the trajectory of a working life were evaluated: the view of age-related motivational decline and the view of age-related motivational maintenance. Results showed a main effect of age on motivation to learn (β = .44) and a moderating effect of age (β = .59) on the relation between motivation to learn and transfer of training (ρ = 0.33). Both effects were in the positive direction, indicating support for the view of age-related motivational maintenance. Age-related differences were moderated by boundary conditions of training design (social training vs. individual training), study characteristics (publication source, study setting, SS/SMC bias, use of control groups, survey modality, instrument), and participant characteristics (level of education, attendance policy, work context). The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of age-related changes in training motivation and their significance for the design of training programs for older learners.     

Justice judgments concerning grading in school

This article investigates justice judgments concerning grading. In two studies with secondary students (N₁ = 350 academic-track students; N₂ = 225 intermediate [n = 81] and academic-track students [n = 144]) attending the 7th to the 12th grade level, participants were presented with vignettes describing three different grading systems: criterion-referenced grading, norm-referenced grading, and individual-referenced grading. The subjects graded and other situational characteristics were varied. In both studies, factor analyses consistently revealed that students’ justice judgments were contingent on the comparison standard applied, but independent of other situational characteristics. Criterion-referenced grading was rated as the most just practice, individual-referenced grading as almost just, and norm-referenced grading as almost unjust. The better the grades received the more the students evaluated criterion-referenced grading to be just. Students attending intermediate-track schools did not object to norm-referenced grading as strongly as their peers at academic-track schools did. Consequences for teachers’ grading practices are discussed.