Using Cost to Improve Predictions of Adolescent Students' Future Choice Intentions, Avoidance Intentions, and Achievement in Math and English

• In Event: Motivation, Cognition, and Effective Teaching

Abstract

We investigated how adolescent students’ perceptions of cost predicted their future choice intentions, avoidance intentions, and achievement in math and English, controlling for their self-efficacy and task value. Latent moderated structural equation modeling was further used to examine interaction effects among motivational constructs. For both subject domains, cost positively predicted avoidance intentions and negatively predicted achievement. Furthermore, cost interacted with task value in predicting avoidance intentions. Findings highlight the importance of including cost in the expectancy-value framework when predicting students’ educational outcomes. It is vital to explore cost as a unique construct, together with expectancy-related and value-related beliefs, to capture more fully students’ motivational dynamics in school.

Authors

• Yi Jiang, East China Normal University

• Emily Quinn Rosenzweig, University of Georgia