A person-centered approach to examining high-school students’ motivation, engagement and academic performance

• Published in: Contemporary educational psychology 2020-07, Vol.62, p.101877, Article 101877
• Main Authors: Xie, Kui, Vongkulluksn, Vanessa W., Lu, Lin, Cheng, Sheng-Lun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic motivation; Cognitive engagement; Latent profile analysis; Multiple-group path analysis; Social engagement
• ISSN: 0361-476X; 1090-2384
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101877

•Latent profile analysis identified seven motivational profiles.•Cognitive engagement and social engagement differed across motivational profiles.•Academic performance differed across motivational profiles.•Motivational profiles moderated relationship between engagement and performance. This study examined the relationship among motivation, engagement, and academic performance through a person-centered research approach. Participants included 10,527 students in grades 9 to 12 from twenty public high schools across the state of Ohio in the United States. Latent profile analysis revealedseven profiles of academic motivation including the amotivated, externally regulated, balanced demotivated, moderately motivated, identified/externally regulated, balanced motivated, and autonomously motivated profile groups. Students in these motivational profiles exhibited differences in cognitive and social engagement, as well as academic performance. In addition, multiple-group path analysis revealed different patternsofrelationship among cognitive engagement, social engagement, and GPA, suggesting that motivational profile membership moderated the relationship between engagement and academic performance.