Striving for Success but at What Cost? Subject-Specific Achievement Goal Orientation Profiles, Perceived Cost, and Academic Well-Being

Abstract

Most studies utilizing a person-oriented approach to investigating students' achievement goal orientation profiles have been domain-general or focused on a single domain (usually mathematics), thus excluding the possibility of identifying distinct subject-specific motivational profiles. In this study, we looked into this by examining upper secondary school students' subject-specific achievement goal orientation profiles simultaneously in mathematics and English. As distinct profiles might contribute to how students invest time and effort in studying, we also examined differences in perceived subject-specific cost (i.e., effort required, emotional cost, opportunity cost) among students with different profiles and how this was linked with students' more general academic well-being (i.e., school engagement, burnout). The 434 Finnish general upper secondary school students participating in the study were classified based on their achievement goal orientations in the two subjects using latent profile analysis, and the predictions of the latent profile on distal outcomes (i.e., measures of cost and academic well-being) were examined within the mixture model. Five divergent achievement goal orientation profiles were identified: indifferent (29%), success-oriented (26%), mastery-oriented (25%), English-oriented, math-avoidant (14%), and avoidanceoriented (6%). The English-oriented, math-avoidant students showed the most distinct domain-specificity in their profile but, in general, profiles indicated more cross-domain generality than specificity. Overall, mastery-oriented students showed the most adaptive academic well-being, while avoidance-oriented students were the least engaged. Success-oriented students were characterized by high multiple goals in both subjects, elevated costs, and high scores on both positive (engagement) and negative (burnout) well-being indicators. The English-oriented, math-avoidant students perceived studying math as costly. The findings suggest that addressing students' achievement motivation in different subjects may be useful for recognizing factors endangering or fostering student learning and well-being.

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“…Perhaps this is an indication of conscientiousness on the one hand, and commitment on the other hand, thus reflecting a combination of academic pressure and a sense of duty in a new demanding situation. This would be in line with prior findings showing how engaged students with performance concerns are particularly susceptible to emotional exhaustion (e.g., Tuominen et al, 2020).…”

“…The differences between positively ambitious and struggling ambitious students are similar to those found in the Watt et al (2019) study, where struggling ambitious students, compared to positively engaged students, reported higher costs along with inferior psychological well-being. Also, these findings resemble the differences between mastery-and success-oriented students; the former displaying low costs and adaptive academic well-being, and the latter characterised by elevated costs and high levels of both positive and negative well-being (Tuominen et al, 2020).…”

“…Like previous groups, these profiles differed in costs; compared to indifferent students, who were relatively low on all motivation variables, the disengaged students emphasised high costs, and thus demonstrated overall the most maladaptive motivational pattern. This group resembles the avoidance-oriented profile identified in previous achievement goal orientation research (e.g., Tuominen-Soini et al, 2012;Tuominen et al, 2020) and the weakly engaged in engagement research (Korhonen et al, 2017).…”

“…We expected the profiles to differ in terms of well-being. Mainly drawing from Watt et al (2019) and similar studies combining achievement goal and expectancy-value theories (e.g., Tuominen et al, 2020), profiles with high values and low costs were expected to demonstrate the most adaptive well-being (i.e., high engagement, low exhaustion, and low depressive symptoms), profiles with both high values and costs to demonstrate both adaptive and maladaptive well-being (i.e., high engagement but high exhaustion, and depressive symptoms), and profiles with low intrinsic and high utility and cost to demonstrate moderate well-being (i.e., mediocre engagement, mediocre exhaustion, and high depressive symptoms).…”

“…Both this and its connection with diminished engagement and elevated exhaustion as well as the combined effect of these constructs on achievement (Fiorilli et al, 2017) makes it particularly relevant in the present context. Students' well-being is also associated with their motivation (e.g., Tuominen-Soini et al, 2012;Tuominen et al, 2020). This connection is partly inherent in one of the most prominent approaches to student motivation, expectancy-value theory (Eccles et al, 1983;Wigfield & Eccles, 2020), which incorporates three types of motivational constructs.…”