Abstract:
Structural equation modeling was used to determine if the relationships between motivation, self-evaluation, and academic achievement can be defined by a proposed structural model for a total sample (N=231) and for African American (n=144) and Caucasian (n=78) samples examined separately. The proposed model suggested that there are direct relationships between motivation and academic achievement, self-evaluation and academic achievement, and motivation and self-evaluation. Measurement models were tested to determine if the observed variables were appropriate measures for their respective latent variables. Structural models were then tested. Results indicated that the proposed model does not correctly define all of the relationships between motivation, self-evaluation, and achievement. For the total sample, as well as the African American and Caucasian samples, a direct path was found from goal orientation to achievement. For the ethnic samples, self-evaluation was directly related to motivation and goals; however, it was not part of the total sample model. There were differences in the models of achievement for the African American and Caucasian samples, as motivation was more predictive of achievement for Caucasian students and goal orientation was more significant in defining achievement for African American students. Results of this study should direct future research to consider further evaluation of models of achievement with different and larger populations of ethnic groups, as a significant difference was found for ethnicity on measures of achievement. Socioeconomic status and gender were also possible confounding factors that should be further investigated.
