Motivational Patterns Between High Schoolers With Dissonant and Resonant Math Identities: A Person-Centered Analysis

• In Event: Affect and Motivation in Mathematics Education

Abstract

Students’ sense of self involves both how they see themselves and how they think they are seen by others. Accordingly, those who self-identify as a math person may not be seen in the same way by people around them (or vice versa), resulting in dissonant math identities. Using data from a national survey, we employed person-centered analyses and examined how highschoolers’ motivational patterns (achievement, expectancy-value beliefs, growth mindsets, and gender stereotype) differed by their math identities (2 x 2, self-identifying or not; others recognizing or not). Results suggested that the four groups differed in both motivational patterns and demographic compositions, and that even within the same identity group, patterns varied across demographic subgroups. Significances of the study are discussed.

Authors

• Tao Li, Purdue University

• Yingying Jiang, Purdue University

• Yukiko Maeda, Purdue University