Individual Paper(s)
Motivational style, self-esteem and background factors: Predicting student academic goals and grades
Garry R. Prentice
Dublin Business School
Christopher McLaughlin
Dublin Business School
Objectives: Psychological and educational research has shown a strong interest in
assessing the impact of demographic, attitude and self-belief factors on
academic outcomes (Caska & Prentice, 2009). The present study examines the
academic impact of motivation (attitude) and self-esteem (self-belief).
Design: This questionnaire study examines the influence of intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation on student goals and grades while controlling for
self-esteem, gender, study hours, lecturer expectations and stress.
Method: Seventy psychology undergraduate students (22 male, 48 female)
completed a questionnaire.
Results: On average, student estimated results were significantly higher than
their actual results. A multiple regression incorporating motivation dimensions
alongside other factors explained a non-significant proportion of variance in
first year student results. Another regression analysis identified significant
effects for self-esteem and fear of failure motivation.
Conclusions: Students with higher levels of self-esteem and fear of failure
motivation were more able to achieve results closer to, or surpassing, their
goals.
