Killing two birds with one stone: The role of motivational resources in predicting changes in achievement and school well-being beyond intelligence

This study investigated whether motivational resources play a role in predicting changes in students’ achievement and well-being above and beyond the role of intelligence during the transition to secondary school. The motivational resources entailed autonomous and controlled motivation as conceived in Self-Determination Theory and implicit beliefs of intelligence as defined in Dweck's perspective. We used two waves of data from a larger longitudinal study, thereby following 6th grade students in the transition to secondary education (N = 2546, Mage = 11.52 years, 49.8% boys). Results of Latent Change Modeling revealed that, after controlling for the role of intelligence in the prediction of standardized math achievement tests, motivational resources played a supplementary role, both at the level of interindividual differences and at the level of intra-individual change. Students with higher initial levels of autonomous motivation obtained higher initial test scores, reported higher school well-being, and made greater progress in both outcomes across the transition. An increase in autonomous motivation was also related to an increase in both achievement and well-being. A similar, yet opposite, pattern of findings was obtained for controlled motivation. An entity mindset failed to yield any unique associations. Given that autonomous motivation contributes to both achievement and well-being beyond effects of intelligence, it is critical for educators to nurture this motivational resource as it allows them to kill two birds with one stone.