Achievement Motivation in Mexican-American Eighth Grade Students

Abstract

120 eighth grade students of two ethnic groups in South Texas, Mexican-American and Anglo-American, were administered an instrument to assess their achievement motivation and a measure of socioeconomic status. The former was designed to examine whether the students were motivated to achieve success or to avoid failure. Analysis indicated no significant differences between the two ethnic groups in achievement motivation, yet on socioeconomic status, differences were noted. Mexican-American students report the same motivation to succeed and to avoid failure as do Ango-American students.