Dimensional comparisons: How academic track students’ achievements are related to their expectancy and value beliefs across multiple domains

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated how students' expectancies and values can be predicted by their achievements in multiple domains. Our major aim was to extend previous findings on dimensional comparison processes for expectancies to task values while systematically comparing multiple value facets defined in expectancy-value theory. We assessed the expectancies, values, and achievements of N = 857 students in Grades 5-12 from two German academic track schools in five academic domains. The results for students' expectancies largely supported the predictions that were derived from dimensional comparison theory: We found strong evidence for negative cross-domain paths between achievements and expectancies in "far" domains such as math and languages, indicating contrast effects. There were also some positive cross-domain paths between achievements and expectancies in "near" domains such as math and physics, indicating assimilation effects. We also found similar patterns of cross-domain paths for students' values. However, the results varied substantially across the nine value facets under investigation. We found the strongest evidence for dimensional comparison processes for the value facets most closely related to expectancy (e.g., intrinsic value and cost facets), whereas we found only a little evidence for dimensional comparison processes for the facets of utility value.

The Development of Motivation and Amotivation to Study and Work across Age-Graded Transitions in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

“…For example at Wave 1 the correlations between the four variables ranged from R = -.29, p = <.001 (attainment value and inertia) to R = .58, p = <.001 (disinterest and futility), with the average correlation statistic being .45. This finding supports the work of other researchers who have also analyzed task-values using sub-scales for each construct, similarly finding that the sub-scales differentiate in CFA and correlational analyses (Gaspard, Wigfield, Jiang, Nagengast, Trautwein & Marsh, 2018).…”

Cross‐Domain Trajectories of Students’ Ability Self‐Concepts and Intrinsic Values in Math and Language Arts

“…For instance, high performance in the verbal domain sets a high standard against which students compare their math performance; consequently, students' verbal performance negatively affects their ASC in math, and vice versa, when performance in the same domain is controlled for (for a meta-analysis, see M€ oller, Pohlmann, K€ oller, & Marsh, 2009). Furthermore, several studies have shown that these negative cross-domain comparisons can affect students' intrinsic values as well (e.g., Gaspard et al, 2018;Nagy et al, 2008) and that students' ASCs in math and verbal domains negatively predict each other over time (e.g., Niepel, Brunner, & Preckel, 2014). These negative relations become evident after the early school years (M€ oller et al, 2009;Weidinger, Steinmayr, & Spinath, 2019), likely resulting in increasing intraindividual differentiation in both ASCs and intrinsic values over time.…”

Science expectancy, value, and cost profiles and their proximal and distal relations to undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math persistence

“…Researchers using variable‐oriented approaches (e.g., regression, structural equation modeling, and correlation analysis) have demonstrated the unique relations of competence beliefs, task values, and perceived costs to various outcomes in STEM disciplines (e.g., Bathgate, Schunn, & Correnti, ; Bryan, Glynn, & Kittleson, ; Gaspard et al, ; Guo et al, ; Lauermann, Tsai, & Eccles, ; Perez et al, ; Watt et al, ). In a recent example, Lauermann et al () found that math competence beliefs (self‐concept of ability), math utility value, and math interest value in ninth grade were related to ninth‐grade math‐related career plans.…”