Motivational profiles Spanish students of Compulsory Secondary Education: Differential analysis of academic self-attributions

Academic goals and academic self-attributions are relevant variables in school settings. The objective of this study is to identify whether there are combinations of multiple goals that lead to different motivational profiles and to determine whether there are significant differences between the groups obtained regarding causal attributions of success and failure (ability, effort, or external causes) in Mathematics and Language and Literature, and in overall academic performance. The Goal Achievement Tendencies Questionnaire (AGTQ) and the Sydney Attribution Scale (SAS) were administered to a sample of 2022 students of compulsory secondary education, ranging in age from 12 to 16 years (M = 13.81, SD = 1.35). Cluster analysis identified four motivational profiles: a group of students with a high generalized motivation profile, a group of students with low generalized motivation profile, a group of students with predominance of learning goals and achievement goals, and a final group of students with predominance of social reinforcement goals. Results revealed statistically significant differences between the profiles obtained in academic self-attributions.

Las metas académicas y las autoatribuciones académicas que realizan los estudiantes son variables relevantes en el contexto escolar. El objetivo de este estudio es identificar si existen combinaciones de múltiples metas que dan lugar a diferentes perfiles motivacionales, así como compro-bar si existen diferencias significativas entre los grupos obtenidos respecto de las autoatribuciones de éxito y fracaso (capacidad, esfuerzo o causas ex-ternas) en la asignatura de matemáticas, lengua y literatura y con respecto al rendimiento académico general. El Achievement Goal Tendencies Questionnaire (AGTQ) y la Sydney Attribution Scale (SAS) fueron administrados a una muestra de 2022 estudiantes de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria de 12 a 16 años (M = 13.81; DT = 1.35). El análisis de conglomerados ha identificado cuatro perfiles motivacionales: un grupo de alumnos con un perfil de alta motivación generalizada, un grupo de estudiantes con un perfil de baja motivación generalizada, un grupo de alumnos con un predominio de me-tas de aprendizaje y metas de logro y un último grupo de estudiantes con predominio de metas de reforzamiento social. Los resultados revelaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los perfiles obtenidos con respecto a las autoatribuciones académicas.

This work was carried out through the Research Project SEJ 2004-07311/EDUC of the Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica del M.E.C. [National Plan of Scientific Research, Development and Techno-logical Innovation of the Ministry of Education and Culture] awarded to the first author.