Motivation and Future Intention to Pursue Mathematics: A Cross-National Study in the United States and Korea

• In Event: 53.072 - Cultural Considerations in Math Motivation

Abstract

The study examined the relations between motivational beliefs and intentions to pursue math in the future, with a focus on the mediating role of current math performance. The study also explored cross-national similarities and differences in these relations, using samples of 15-year-old U.S. and South Korean adolescents. Results provided evidence that expectancy beliefs (i.e., math self-concept) and value beliefs (i.e., math interest and utility value) were directly associated with math-enrollment intentions for both samples. The mediating role of math performance in explaining these relations was documented for only the U.S. sample. Although Korean students rated math interest and utility value as low, the relations from these constructs to math achievement and intentions were stronger for Korean than for U.S. students.

Authors

• Hyeyoung Hwang, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Judith L. Meece, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill