Family-Support Goals Drive Engagement and Achievement in a Collectivist Context: Integrating Etic and Emic Approaches in Goal Research

• In Event: Race-Reimaging Motivation in Education Research: Investigating Motivation Through Racialized and Cultural Perspectives

Abstract

1. Objectives
Much of the research in educational psychology has neglected the role of culture in student motivation and learning. This is especially the case with goal theory which has been dominated by top-down etic approaches with little emphasis on the use of bottom-up emic methods to uncover culturally-relevant phenomena. The overarching aim of this study was to combine etic and emic approaches to explore the different goals students pursue and how these goals drive engagement and achievement.

2. Theoretical Framework.
We drew on two dominant theoretical models: Elliot and Murayama’s (2008) 2×2 achievement goal model (mastery-approach, performance-approach; mastery-avoidance, and performance-avoidance) and Dowson and McInerney (2003) social goal framework. Achievement goals pertain to competence-linked aims (Elliot & McGregor, 2005), while social goals pertain to “social reasons for trying to succeed (or fail) academically” (Urdan & Maehr, 1995, p. 214).

3. Methods, Data Sources, and Results.
Study 1
Study 1 was a qualitative study which aimed to elicit the different types of goals that students spontaneously endorsed. Filipino secondary school students (n=1007) were recruited and asked to respond to open-ended questionnaires. Results indicated that students endorsed mastery approach goals the most followed by an emic type of goal which we tentatively labeled as “family-support” goal. This goal referred to wanting to do well in school in order to help/support one’s family.

Study 2
Study 2 aimed to: (1) develop a measure of family-support goals based on the qualitative results and (2) examine whether family-support goals are empirically distinct from the 2x2 achievement goals. A sample of 222 high school students from the Philippines were recruited and answered the relevant questionnaires. The family-support goal scale showed good psychometric properties. CFA results indicated that family-support goal was distinct from the 2x2 achievement goals.

Study 3
Study 3 was a prospective longitudinal study which examined how family-support goals alongside the 2x2 achievement goals predicted engagement and achievement. A sample of 848 high school students from the Philippines were recruited and they answered the questionnaires across two time points. Results of the study indicated that mastery-approach goals and family-support goals positively predicted subsequent engagement and achievement. Performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery-avoidance goals were not significantly associated with engagement and achievement.

Study 4
The aim of Study 4 was to replicate the results found in Study 3 using a different sample of students and after controlling for the effects of closely related constructs such as parental relatedness, relational self-construal, and social desirability. We also used a prospective longitudinal design that drew on a sample of 676 high school students from the Philippines. Corroborating the results of Study 4, we found that family support goals remained as robust predictors of engagement and achievement even after taking the effects of closely-related covariates into account.

4. Significance
The current study showed that the pathway to optimal engagement and achievement is not monopolized by the mastery goal pathway. Goals targeted toward the family are important and might be even more relevant for students immersed in a collectivist cultural context.

Authors

• Ronnel B. King, The Education University of Hong Kong

• Dennis M. McInerney, The Education University of Hong Kong