Academic Motivation and Achievement Among Urban Adolescents

Although researchers report that motivational variables, such as interest and self-efficacy, positively relate to forms of achievement (e.g., standardized test scores, grades, number of problems solved correctly), other studies indicate that motivation's contribution to achievement is not consistent. Fewer studies, however, have examined these connections within African American samples. This 2-year, cross-sectional investigation of eighth- and ninth-grade students specifically focused on motivation and GPA in a large, urban, predominantly African American, school district in the Midwest. Regression analyses of self-report levels of three motivational variables (i.e., self-efficacy beliefs, goal orientations, and domain interest) revealed that significant gender differences existed in goal orientation and achievement scores in both grades. Furthermore, self-efficacy and learning goals contributed to domain interests but the predictive value of these three motivational variables on achievement differed at each grade level.