Subject Specific Mastery Motivation in Moldovan Middle School Students

Abstract

Given the crucial role of mastery motivation in the cognitive development of children, the present study investigates subject-specific mastery motivation in the multilingual educational system of the Republic of Moldova. We applied cross-sectional data from fifth, seventh, and ninth graders studying either in the Romanian (n = 583) or Russian (n = 353) language using the Subject Specific Mastery Motivation Questionnaire (SSMMQ). To ensure the validity of the comparison of latent mean differences, the Romanian and Russian versions of SSMMQ were validated and measurement invariance of the constructs across language, grade, and gender was assessed. The full scalar invariance across grades and gender and the partial scalar invariance across language held. Thus, a comparison of latent mean differences across these three groups is plausible. The findings proved that there was no difference between the Romanian and Russian samples, but we found girls self-rated themselves significantly higher than boys in the Reading, Art, and Music mastery motivation scales. Results with respect to the comparison of latent mean differences between the grade levels demonstrated that the Reading mastery motivation of the Moldovan students stayed stable from fifth to ninth grades, whereas Art had a constant declining path.

Diagnostic Assessment of School Readiness

“…Initially, the measurement invariance of the dichotomous test model was assessed within each group, but the results indicated unsatisfactory fit indices. By addressing the measurement errors through the introduction of correlations, improvement was observed in the model fit for all dimensions of both the dichotomous and rating tests, aligning with findings from the previous studies (Calchei et al, 2023;Zewude & Hercz, 2022). Measurement invariance was then examined across countries, genders, and the ages of 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th years.…”

“…Although the concept of measurement invariance has garnered considerable attention in psychological research (Bravo et al, 2021;Calchei et al, 2023;Lau et al, 2022;Teo et al, 2022;Zewude & Hercz, 2022), there remains a significant research gap concerning the confirmation of psychometric properties of school readiness assessment. Consequently, the present study endeavors to address this gap by examining the measurement invariance of the DIFER test, which assesses the school readiness of young children.…”

The Dynamics of Mastery Motivation and Its Relationship with Self-Concept in Music Education

“…Based on the studies by Józsa et al [ 7 ] and Calchei et al [ 5 ], we learned that age and gender differences can have impacts students’ musical MM. Regarding the musical SC, Shavelson et al [ 37 ] and Spychiger et al [ 21 ] mentioned that non-academic components such as students’ emotional, social, physical, cognitive, and spiritual representations can have relationships with their musical SCs and abilities.…”

“…MM is a form of motivation that refers to the internal drive to attain and enhance one’s abilities without being motivated by external or tangible rewards [ 3 , 4 ]. It is also defined as an individual’s inherent desire that propels and sustains a behavior centered around mastering a difficult task, skill, or competency [ 5 ]. Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate MM as a potential factor that explains different aspects of academic accomplishment, student engagement, mental well-being, cognitive abilities, and future career decisions, among others [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Comparing subject-specific mastery motivation in Hungary and the Republic of Moldova

“…As a motivation theory, mastery motivation can provide valuable insight into students' motivation to overcome obstacles while acquiring new skills and tackling challenging tasks in specific school subjects (Józsa et al, 2020). Investigations of subjectspecific mastery motivation have been conducted using several samples from Hungary, Taiwan, and Moldova with the aim of elucidating the influence of culture on mastery motivation in the academic context (Józsa, 2014;Józsa et al, 2017;Calchei et al, 2023) and the culturally universal or culturally specific nature of this construct (Xu et al, 2021).…”