In this study, we examined how situational interest, self-efficacy, and performance predict each other during task engagement, and how they, in turn, contribute to continued interest. Finnish fourth-graders (N = 263) did a computerized inductive reasoning task consisting of two sections. Before and after each section, the students reported their situational interest and self-efficacy, and at the end of the task, students stated whether they would like to do similar tasks again (i.e., continued interest). Students' domain-specific interest and self-concept in mathematics, and gender differences were controlled. A cross-lagged reciprocal effects model with repeated measures, control variables, and outcomes within the structural equation modeling framework was estimated. The results showed situational interest to have a stronger effect on self-efficacy than vice versa, and that they both partly contributed to task performance. Continued interest was influenced only by situational interest at the end of the task. The patterning of predictions across the different stages of the task suggests these effects to be somewhat sensitive to task characteristics.
This study examined how students’ interest, self-efficacy, and perceived difficulty change during a task, how those changes relate to each other, and how they predict performance. Sixth-graders (N = 1024) rated their interest, self-efficacy, and perceived difficulty repeatedly during a dynamic problem-solving task. Results from the estimated non-linear and piecewise latent growth curve models showed interest and self-efficacy to decrease, and perceived difficulty first to increase, and then to decrease, over time. The levels of and changes in interest and self-efficacy correlated positively with each other, but negatively with perceived difficulty. Task performance was positively predicted by initial interest and less negative change in self-efficacy, and negatively by initial perceived difficulty and steeper increase in it. The results suggest perceived difficulty to have a distinctive role in the dynamics of task-specific motivation, and on-task changes to be relatively independent of more general motivation and competence.
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