This study examines how competence beliefs and task values predict high school achievement choices related to literacy. Students' task beliefs (self-concept of ability, intrinsic value, and importance) about reading in the 4th grade and English in the 10th grade were tracked over time. Task beliefs, school performance, and gender were used to predict students' (a) time per week spent reading for pleasure in 10th grade, (b) number of language arts courses per year of high school, and (c) reading relatedness of 12th-grade career aspirations. Results indicated that ability beliefs positively predicted all 3 outcomes, importance predicted career aspirations and course choices, and intrinsic value predicted leisure time reading and high school courses. Gender differences were also discussed.

Although it is likely that plans to attend a 4-year college are made much earlier than the last 2 years of high school, few researchers have assessed the pre–high school factors that influence high school performance and course-enrollment decisions, which, in turn, affect college attendance. The data presented in this article were collected as part of the longitudinal Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions. In this article, we used data from 681 adolescents in sixth grade and from their mothers to predict college attendance 2 years after high school graduation. Hierarchical logistic regression revealed the following as significant predictors of full-time college attendance: youth’s grade point averages, their plans for college, their resiliency, family income, mother’s education level, and mother’s educational valuing.

Because literacy skills are critical for most academic subject matters, researchers have become increasingly interested in understanding children's motivation in this domain as a way to increase academic success. In this study, we extend previous work by looking at the heterogeneity of children's motivational changes in literacy across Grades 1-12. We used a cross-sequential design based on 3 different cohorts of children (N ϭ 655) coming from 10 public elementary schools. Data were collected over an 8-year period (1988 -1996) starting when children were in 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades. Using multiple-process growth mixture modeling, we identified 7 groups of children showing distinct trajectories of change in literacy subjective task value and ability self-concept across school years. For all children, ability self-concept and subjective task value decreased between Grade 1 and Grade 12; however, this decline was more apparent for some youths than for others. Our findings suggest the importance of school-based interventions that aim to prevent decreases in student motivation for literacy over time and that focus on the early detection of children at risk for dramatic declines.

The present study compares the relations of family SES and parents' educational expectations during early adolescence with students' self-concept of ability and academic achievement in mathematics and language in two western countries, Switzerland and USA Participants were drawn from two US longitudinal samples, The Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions (1983) and the Childhood and Beyond study (1990) and a representative sample of Swiss sixth graders (2002). Results from a series of structural equation models indicate a high predictability and stability across nations indicating the broad usefulness of the model for understanding the role of parents' expectations on student's self-concepts and achievement.

Over the last 10 years, there have been extensive discussions in media and academic publication outlets regarding the costs of adolescence for females in terms of mental health, self-esteem, and identity. For example, the American Association of University Women (AAUW; 1990) reported marked declines in girls' self-confidence during the early adolescent years.Similarly, Carol Gilligan (1990) has reported that girls lose confidence in their ability to express their needs and opinions as they move into the early adolescent years; she referred to this process as "losing one's voice." Finally, Mary Pipher (1994), in her very popular book Reviving Opheliu, outlined a variety of ways in which young female adolescents lose confidence in themselves and become depressed.We wish to thank all of our colleagues and former students who have worked with us in developing the studies summarized in this chapter: