We used multilevel factor analyses to investigate the structure of the Teacher as Social Context Questionnaire (TASCQ)-short form--a prominent measure of teacher practices that promote student motivation to learn. Based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the TASCQ contains three scales: Autonomy Support, Structure, and Involvement. Few studies…

While adolescence is a critical stage of development marked by heightened bottom-up emotional reactivity and immature top-down regulatory control, research on emotion regulation has relatively neglected middle childhood to adolescence years. This may be attributed to the limited number and scope of age-appropriate, reliable, and valid measures of…

The present study reports on an investigation of the generalizability of the technical adequacy of the Positive Experience at School Scale (PEASS) with a sample of students (N = 1,002) who differed substantially in age/grade level (i.e., adolescents in middle school as opposed to children in elementary school) and ethnic identity (i.e., majority…

The present study reports on a replication of the technical adequacy of the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire (SSWQ), which is a 16-item self-report instrument for assessing youth's academic efficacy, educational purpose, joy of learning, and school connectedness, with a sample of adolescents in Grades 6 to 7 (N = 438). Findings confirmed…

Independently learning from informative texts becomes increasingly important from the age of 11. Little information is available, however, on (a) how and to what extent late elementary education students already apply specific text-learning strategies, and (b) whether different learner profiles can already be distinguished. In this study, a…

Emotional intelligence (EI) theory provides a framework to study the role of emotion skills in social, personal, and academic functioning. Reporting data validating the importance of EI among youth have been limited due to a dearth of measurement instruments. In two studies, the authors examined the reliability and validity of the…

Previous studies have shown that method effects associated with item wording produce artifactual factors and threaten scale validity. This study examines item wording effects on a scale of attitudes toward learning mathematics for Taiwanese and U.S. samples. Analyses from a series of CFA (confirmatory factor analysis) models support the presence…