Motivational Processes and the Pursuit of Postsecondary Education

• In Event: 75.062 - Poster Session 18
  In Poster Session: 75.062-2 - Motivational and Cognitive Processes: Self-Regulation, Emotions, and Memory

Abstract

Despite the wealth of research that shows students’ motivation-related beliefs and behaviors are important predictors of academic outcomes, motivation-related theoretical frameworks have rarely been applied to the research examining postsecondary enrollment as an outcome. In the current study, data from the ELS:2002 dataset was used to examine how students’ ability beliefs, value for school, postsecondary expectations, and goal-directed behaviors were related to students’ postsecondary enrollment. Students’ ability beliefs and value for school predicted their postsecondary expectations and goal-directed behaviors which in turn predicted students’ postsecondary enrollment. Differences in the relations between variables emerged for students’ from different demographic groups. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Author

• Lauren Elizabeth Musu-Gillette, National Center for Education Statistics