Why Try? Achievement Motivation and Perceived Academic Climate Among Latino Youth

Elliot and McGregor’s (2001) 2 × 2 model of achievement motivation (mastery approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach and performance-avoidance) was used among 143 Latino adolescents to examine how achievement motivation changes over time, and whether perception of academic climate influences eventual academic outcomes. A series of hierarchical regressions revealed that perception of a task-focused academic climate moderated the association between mastery-approach achievement motivation and teacher-rated academic outcomes. A Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (RM-ANOVA) also revealed that eighth graders reported an increase in mastery-approach achievement motivation and task-focused academic climate as they transitioned to high school. Findings suggest 1) that perception of a task-performance focused academic climate plays an important role in Latino adolescents’ academic achievement, and 2) that Latino adolescents’ achievement motivation and perception of academic climate may be influenced by their transition to high school.