This study investigated continuing motivation for hard and easy tasks and subjects' judgements of selected learner characteristics purported to be related to learning and motivation. The data were collected through subjects' self-reports on a Student School and Work Survey questionnaire. The subjects were approximately 100 males and 100 females from the seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades. The return to task (motivation) measure on the questionnaire consisted of scenarios in which a male or female character performed a task the character considered to be either hard or easy. Each subject responded to two of the eight scenarios: 2(easy or hard task difficulty) x 2(male or female character) x 2(helping to produce the school newspaper or creative idea tasks). The Learner Characteristics Measure (Part Two) contains 15 questions that assess school-related aspects of each of the five learner characteristics of approval, attribution, challenge, competence, and locus of control. Analyses of the data revealed a significantly higher rate of return to easy tasks over hard tasks and a significantly higher rate of return for females than for males. A higher return rate for easy tasks was reported for the scenario character and a higher return rate for hard tasks was reported for the subject. Females had significantly higher reported return-to-task rates for self-return and return to easy tasks than males. The results were highly consistent across grade levels. A summary of results by sex across the five learner characteristics indicates that females showed a higher desire than males for approval and challenge in school-related tasks. Results for the learner characteristics across grade levels reveal a pattern in which older students take less responsibility for their learning, desire less personal challenge, and feel less school-related competence. (21 references) (BBM)