Student differences in self-regulated learning: Relating grade, sex, and giftedness to self-efficacy and strategy use.

Forty-five boys and 45 girls of the 5th, 8th, and 11th grades from a school for the academically gifted and an identical number from regular schools were asked to describe their use of 14 self-regulated learning strategies and to estimate their verbal and mathematical efficacy. The groups of students from both schools included Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Students came from middle-class homes. Gifted students displayed significantly higher verbal efficacy, mathematical efficacy, and strategy use than regular students. In general, 11th-grade students surpassed 8th graders, who in turn surpassed 5th graders on the three measures of self-regulated learning. Students' perceptions of both verbal and mathematical efficacy were related to their use of self-regulated strategies. Evidence of relations between students' strategic efforts to learn and perceptions of academic self-efficacy is concordant with a triadic view of self-regulatory learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development and correlates of academic interests from childhood through adolescence.

Study goals were to assess: (a) the development of academic interests from middle childhood through late adolescence; (b) the degree to which junior high and high school transitions, parents' educational expectations, interests, and education were related to changes in academic interests; and (c) the longitudinal links between youths' academic interests and school grades. Participants were mothers, fathers, and 2 siblings from 201 White working-class and middle-class families who were interviewed in their homes on up to 9 annual occasions. Multilevel model analyses revealed overall declines in youths' interests over time, with boys showing more rapid decline than girls. Mothers' educational expectations were positively related to youths' interests, and youths' interests declined less when fathers had more education. The transition to junior high, but not high school, was linked to decline in interests, but this was buffered by mothers' academic interests. Declines in youths' academic interests were linked to declines in school grades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sources of self-efficacy: An investigation of elementary school students in France.

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of Bandura's (1997) theorized sources of self-efficacy on the academic and self-regulatory efficacy beliefs of 3rd-grade elementary school students (N = 395) in France, to examine whether classroom context might explain a significant portion of the variation in self-efficacy, and to assess whether these sources differ as a function of sex. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that mastery experience, social persuasions, and mean classroom-level self-efficacy predicted mathematics self-efficacy. Mastery experience, social persuasions, physiological state, and mean classroom-level self-efficacy predicted French self-efficacy. All 4 sources predicted self-efficacy for self-regulated learning in both subjects, with the exception of vicarious experience in French. Classroom-level variables did not predict self-efficacy for self-regulated learning in either subject. Boys outperformed girls in mathematics and reported higher mathematics self-efficacy, self-regulatory efficacy, mastery experience, social persuasions, and lower physiological arousal. In French, girls outperformed boys but reported lower self-efficacy. Findings support and refine the theoretical tenets of Bandura's social cognitive theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of self-regulated learning in work-related training and educational attainment: What we know and where we need to go.

Researchers have been applying their knowledge of goal-oriented behavior to the self-regulated learning domain for more than 30 years. This review examines the current state of research on self-regulated learning and gaps in the field's understanding of how adults regulate their learning of work-related knowledge and skills. Self-regulation theory was used as a conceptual lens for deriving a heuristic framework of 16 fundamental constructs that constitute self-regulated learning. Meta-analytic findings (k = 430, N = 90,380) support theoretical propositions that self-regulation constructs are interrelated—30% of the corrected correlations among constructs were .50 or greater. Goal level, persistence, effort, and self-efficacy were the self-regulation constructs with the strongest effects on learning. Together these constructs accounted for 17% of the variance in learning, after controlling for cognitive ability and pretraining knowledge. However, 4 self-regulatory processes—planning, monitoring, help seeking, and emotion control—did not exhibit significant relationships with learning. Thus, a parsimonious framework of the self-regulated learning domain is presented that focuses on a subset of self-regulatory processes that have both limited overlap with other core processes and meaningful effects on learning. Research is needed to advance the field's understanding of how adults regulate their learning in an increasingly complex and knowledge-centric work environment. Such investigations should capture the dynamic nature of self-regulated learning, address the role of self-regulation in informal learning, and investigate how trainees regulate their transfer of training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construct validation of a strategy model of student self-regulated learning.

Using student interviews, teacher ratings, and achievement test outcomes, we validated a strategy model of student self-regulated learning as a theoretical construct. Forty-four male and 36 female high school students were asked to describe their use of 14 self-regulated learning strategies in six contexts, and their teachers rated these students for their self-regulated learning during class. Factor analyses of the teachers' ratings along with students' scores on a standardized test of mathematics and English revealed a single self-regulated learning factor that accounted for nearly 80% of the explained variance and two smaller factors that were labeled Student Verbal Expressiveness and Achievement. Students' reports of using self-regulated learning strategies during a structured interview correlated .70 with the obtained teachers' rating factor and were negatively related to the Student Verbal Expressiveness and Achievement factors. Our results indicate both convergent and discriminative validity for a self-regulated learning construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change in teacher efficacy and student self- and task-related beliefs in mathematics during the transition to junior high school.

In a longitudinal study of 1,329 students and the teachers they had for mathematics before and after the transition to junior high school, the relation between students' beliefs in mathematics and their teachers' sense of efficacy is examined. Using repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), we found that the rate of change within the school year in students' expectancies, perceived performance, and perceived task difficulty in math differed at Year 1 and 2, depending on teacher efficacy before and after the transition. Students who moved from high- to low-efficacy math teachers during the transition ended the junior high year with the lowest expectancies and perceived performance (even lower than students who had low efficacy teachers both years) and the highest perceptions of task difficulty. The differences in pre- and posttransition teachers' views of their efficacy had a stronger relationship to low-achieving than to high-achieving students' beliefs in mathematics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sociocognitive self-regulatory mechanisms governing transgressive behavior.

This longitudinal research examined a structural model of the self-regulatory mechanisms governing transgressive conduct. Perceived academic and self-regulatory efficacy concurrently and longitudinally deterred transgressiveness both directly and by fostering prosocialness and adherence to moral self-sanctions for harmful conduct. The impact of perceived social self-efficacy was mediated through prosocialness. Moral disengagement and prosocialness affected transgressiveness through the mediating influence of irascible affectivity and hostile rumination. Ruminative affectivity, in turn, both concurrently and longitudinally affected transgressiveness. Moral disengagement also contributed independently to variance in transgressiveness over time. This pattern of relations was obtained after controlling for prior transgressiveness. The structural model was replicated across gender and provided a better fit to the data than did several alternative models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived parental characteristics, locus of control orientation, and behavioral correlates of locus of control.

Attempted to ascertain perceived parental behavior associated with locus of control orientation. 112 high school seniors (58 males and 54 females) completed the Nowicki-Strickland Personal Reaction Survey and the Parent-Child Interaction Rating Scale. Generally, perceived paternal nurturance was associated with female internality, and perceived maternal nurturance was associated with male internality. All Ss perceived parents as having a similar locus of control orientation. In Phase 2 of the study, behavior associated with Ss' locus of control and perceived parental locus of control orientation was investigated. Ss' expressed internality was associated with higher achievement for males and with greater social involvement for females. Perceived paternal internality was significantly associated with greater female achievement. Results are discussed in terms of social learning and cultural role-expectancy theory. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A social cognitive view of self-regulated academic learning.

Researchers interested in academic self-regulated learning have begun to study processes that students use to initiate and direct their efforts to acquire knowledge and skill. The social cognitive conception of self-regulated learning presented here involves a triadic analysis of component processes and an assumption of reciprocal causality among personal, behavioral, and environmental triadic influences. This theoretical account also posits a central role for the construct of academic self-efficacy beliefs and three self-regulatory processes: self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reactions. Research support for this social cognitive formulation is discussed, as is its usefulness for improving student learning and academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of perceived controllability and performance standards on self-regulation of complex decision making.

Tested the hypothesis that perceived controllability and stringency of performance standards would affect self-regulatory mechanisms governing performance attainments of a simulated organization. Ss who managed the simulated organization under a cognitive set that organizations are not easily controllable displayed low perceived self-efficacy, even when standards were within easy reach, and lowered their organizational goals. Ss who operated under a cognitive set that organizations are controllable maintained a strong sense of self-efficacy, set increasingly challenging goals, and exhibited effective analytic thinking. Divergent changes in these self-regulatory factors were accompanied by differences in organizational attainments. Path analyses revealed that perceived self-efficacy, which was affected by prior accomplishments, influenced subsequent organizational performance through its effects on analytic strategies. After further experience, the performance system was regulated more extensively and intricately by Ss' self-conceptions of efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy affected subsequent organizational attainments both through its influence on personal goal challenges. Personal goals, enhanced organizational attainments directly and through mediation of analytic strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family, peer, and neighborhood influences on academic achievement among African-American adolescents: one-year prospective effects

Using a 1-year prospective design, this study examined the influence of family status variables (family income, parental education, family structure), parenting variables (maternal support and restrictive control), peer support, and neighborhood risk on the school performance of 120 African American junior high school students. In addition to main effects of these variables, neighborhood risk was examined as a moderator of the effects of parenting and peer support. Family status variables were not predictive of adolescent school performance as indexed by self-reported grade point average. Maternal support at Time 1 was prospectively related to adolescent grades at Time 2. Neighborhood risk was related to lower grades, while peer support predicted better grades in the prospective analyses. Neighborhood risk also moderated the effects of maternal restrictive control and peer support on adolescent grades in prospective analyses. These findings highlight the importance of an ecological approach to the problem of academic underachievement within the African American Community.     

Once a boring task always a boring task? Interest as a self-regulatory mechanism.

Proposed a process through which individuals regulate their motivation to perform necessary but uninteresting activities over time. If committed to continuing, individuals may engage in interest-enhancing strategies that can change the activity into something more positive to perform. In Study 1, Ss performed novel tasks and generated strategies to make regular performance interesting. In Study 2, Ss actually used these strategies primarily in conditions indicating a self-regulatory attempt: The task was currently boring, there was a perceived reason to continue (alleged health benefit), and a relevant strategy was available. Strategy use was associated with a change in activity definition and greater likelihood of subsequently performing the activity. In Study 3, Ss' beliefs about how to maintain motivation to perform more everyday activities emphasized the importance of regulating interest relative to other self-regulatory strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a general model of self-regulated study: An analysis of selection of items for study and self-paced study time.

People of all ages are more likely to choose to restudy items (or allocate more study time to items) that are perceived as more difficult to learn than as less difficult to learn. Existing models of self-regulated study adequately account for this inverse relation between perceived difficulty of learning and these 2 measures of self-regulated study (item selection and self-paced study). However, these models cannot account for positive relations between perceived difficulty of learning and item selection, which are demonstrated in the present investigation. Namely, in Experiments 1 and 2, the authors described conditions in which people more often selected to study items judged as less difficult than as more difficult to learn. This positive relation was not demonstrated for self-paced study, which was always negatively correlated with judged difficulty to learn. In Experiments 3 through 6, the authors explored explanations for this dissociation between item selection and self-paced study. Discussion focuses on a general model of self-regulated study that includes planning, discrepancy reduction, and working-memory constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Female adolescents' identity development: Age comparisons and perceived child-rearing experience.

82 females from 10th, 11th, and 12th grades in a rural high school provided responses on identity status development (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement status) and perceived parental socialization styles using the Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status Scales and a questionnaire on parental socialization. Psychometric reevaluation of the identity status instrument (originally normed with older adolescents) and the perceived childrearing items indicated appropriateness with middle-adolescent-female samples. Age difference comparisons show that although the onset of a foreclosed status may begin during the high school years, middle adolescence is not a period of dramatic age differences. The relationship between socialization styles and identity status comparisons reveals evidence for perceived socialization practices by mothers and fathers that significantly differentiate the identity status groups. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior, motivation, and achievement in desegregated junior high school science classes.

To locate possible antecedents for racial differences in science achievement, measures of mathematics and reading achievement, causal attribution, attitude toward school success, and in-class behavior were acquired from 40 Black and 40 White junior high school students, both groups evenly divided between males and females. Significant group differences were limited to mean achievement test scores and science grades. Achievement scores were significantly related to grades, but classroom behaviors also accounted for a significant and unique portion of the variance. There were no significant relationships between behaviors and other student measures. Teacher ratings of effort, ability, course difficulty, and environment were also acquired. Teachers rated Whites as smarter and believed that Black females exerted the greatest effort and Black males the least. As a secondary interest, number and type of student interactions were recorded. Few hostile interracial encounters were observed, and interactions were predominately within race. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student conceptions of learning and their use of self-regulated learning strategies: A cross-cultural comparison.

This study examines differences between Australian and Japanese secondary school students' conceptions of learning and their use of self-regulated learning strategies. Australian students have a narrow, school-based view of learning. The Japanese students view learning from a much broader perspective. For them, learning is not only related to what happens at school, it is also seen as a lifelong, experiential process leading to personal fulfillment. However, in spite of these differences in learning conceptualizations, the strategies used by students in a Western learning context are similar to those used by Japanese students. A conception of learning as "understanding" is associated with a greater total use of strategies for both Australian and Japanese students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of performance in first-year foreign language courses: Connections between native and foreign language learning.

Two experiments examined best predictor of success in foreign language courses and measured by foreign language grades. Experiment 1 involved 154 9th- and 10th-grade grade girls attending a private, single-sex, high school; Experiment 2 involved a coeducational population of 100 9th-grade students in a public school. Best predictors in the 2 experiments were 8th-grade English grade and foreign language aptitude. Spelling was a significant predictor of Experiment 1 only. Principal components analyses of the test battery shoed 3 similar components: Phonology–Orthography, Meaning, and Foreign Language Aptitude–Metalinguistic. Regression analyses indicated that the 3 components contributed approximately 60% of the variance in foreign language grades. Findings are discussed in light of research on native language learning and its relationship to learning a foreign language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Epistemological beliefs' contributions to study strategies of Asian Americans and European Americans.

Given the increasingly culturally diverse composition of students in American classrooms, understanding the nature of cultural differences is necessary to generate effective instructional interventions. This study examines the individual differences in epistemological beliefs, ways of knowing, study strategies, and academic performance among different cultural groups. These cultural groups include European Americans (Americans of European ancestry) and first and successive generations of Asian Americans. College junior and senior business majors completed instruments assessing epistemological beliefs, ways of knowing, and study strategies. Multivariate analyses of variances revealed significant differences among cultural groups in 5 study strategies (low anxiety, selecting main ideas, testing strategies, high motivation, and information processing), course grades, and reading comprehension. Regression analyses revealed that beliefs about learning speed, knowledge construction, characteristics of successful students, and separate knowing contributed to cultural differences. This study highlights the need to avoid strong stereotyping and to consider individual differences in the classroom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of SVIB academic interest scales in predicting college achievement.

Determined the effectiveness of various SVIB academic interest scales in predicting 1st semester grades for 388 freshman males. Both the R. M. Rust and F. J. Ryan (see 29:4) and the D. P. Campbell and C. B. Johansson (see 41:3) scales contributed to a multiple correlation coefficient consisting of high school rank and Scholastic Aptitude Test scores in predicting academic performance. A single-item, self-evaluation rating scale failed to predict GPA significantly. Although the degree of relationship between the interest scales and grades tended to be somewhat greater for "marginal" students, the r's were not significantly different from those obtained with more able students. The use of modified, "placement" instructions did not greatly affect the mean scores or the magnitude of the correlations. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

National assessment of early elementary teachers perceived self-efficacy for teaching tobacco prevention based on the CDC guidelines

A national random sample of 505 early elementary school teachers completed a 47-item survey to determine their perceived self-efficacy for teaching tobacco prevention education based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for grades K-3, their training status on tobacco prevention, and their level of teaching about tobacco prevention. Results indicated most of the teachers were female, White, held a bachelor's or master's degree, never smoked, and had not received formal tobacco prevention training. The teachers' scores were high for efficacy expectations, and for outcome expectations. Conversely, for outcome value, teachers ranked tobacco prevention fifth out of six health topics, as the most important health topic to teach elementary students. Also, teachers trained in four tobacco areas or more had statistically significantly higher scores for efficacy expectations than those trained in three or fewer areas. Statistically significant positive associations were also found between years of teaching tobacco prevention and efficacy and outcome expectation scores, and between the amount of time that tobacco prevention was taught during the past school year and outcome value.