Expectancy-value theory (EVT) proposes that students' appraisals of success expectancy and task value are the main drivers of their study and career choices. Dimensional comparison theory proposes that these beliefs are themselves affected by students comparing their ability across different domains. However, only a few studies have aimed to…

This 3-wave longitudinal study explored the complex ways in which students' motivation (motivational attitudes and beliefs), relationships with teachers (closeness, conflict, and dependency), and academic achievement (reading comprehension and math performance) inform one another from kindergarten through 6th grade. The sample included students (N…

Background: Math anxiety (MA) and math achievement are generally negatively associated. Aims: This study investigated whether and how classroom engagement behaviors mediate the negative association between MA and math achievement. Sample: Data were drawn from an ongoing longitudinal study that examines the roles of affective factors in math…

Aims: Higher education systems around the world have enforced campus closures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Such measures may threaten students' basic psychological needs for relatedness, competence and autonomy, and the development of intrinsic learning motivation. Little is known about whether the implementation of campus closures yielded…

Although research shows higher levels of perceived academic control are associated with academic adjustment in the first year of university, little is known about how changes in perceived control over multiple years relate to longitudinal university dropout and grades. Thus, our 3-year study (N = 1,007) examined whether changes in perceived…

Sex differences in the strength of the relations between mathematics anxiety, mathematics attitudes, and mathematics achievement were assessed concurrently in sixth grade (n = 1,091, 545 boys) and longitudinally from sixth to seventh grade (n = 190, 97 boys). Mathematics anxiety was composed of two facets, one associated with evaluations and the…

Student motivation research seeks to uncover greater understanding of when, how, and why students succeed or fail in school settings. Self-determination theory has been at the forefront of helping educational stakeholders answer questions on student motivation. This study investigates the motivation mediation model proposed by self-determination…

This study expanded on research on temporal relations among motivation constructs as stated by expectancy-value theory, which has so far neglected the differentiation of value facets, the examination of long time spans with multiple measurement waves, and domain-specific patterns of findings. We examined the longitudinal relations among academic…

We propose that students experience "autonomy dissatisfaction" when the learning environment is indifferent to their psychological need for autonomy. We hypothesized that (a) students could distinguish this newly proposed need state from both autonomy satisfaction and autonomy frustration, (b) autonomy dissatisfaction would explain…

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is consistently associated with poor school-level outcomes. Although school engagement is recognized as a protective factor associated with increased academic achievement, school retention/completion, and student well-being in the general population, little research has focused on school…

Enjoyment is one of the most relevant and frequently experienced discrete emotions for both teachers and students in classroom learning contexts. Based on theories of emotion transmission between interaction partners, we propose a reciprocal effects model linking teachers' and students' enjoyment in class. The model suggests that there are…

Science learning is most often examined within formal education contexts, even though students spend more of their lives outside of the classroom. Students may interact with scientific phenomena during these out-of-school experiences, providing additional opportunities for learning to take place. Prior studies have found that optional science…

Self-concepts of ability (SCA) and intrinsic task values (ITV) are key determinants of students' choice of study program and dropout. Both constructs are multidimensional (i.e., specific to curricular learning content) and hierarchically structured (i.e., aggregate into one or more higher-order factors). The present study investigated German…

We replicated and extended prior research investigating a theoretically guided intervention based on expectancy-value theory designed to enhance student learning outcomes (e.g., Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2009). First, we replicated prior work by demonstrating that the utility value intervention, which manipulated whether students made…

Receiving report card grades is psychologically salient to most students and can elicit a range of affective reactions. A 3-wave longitudinal study examined how grades shape students' (N = 375; M age at Wave 1 = 12.6 years) school engagement through the affective reactions they elicit. Emotional and behavioral engagement were measured at the start…