Precursors of Students’ Cost Perceptions: Identifying Proximal and Distal Antecedents

Studies of students’ cost perceptions have been prevalent in recent years; however, little work has examined what may precede the formation of these costs. In the present study, we examine proximal and distal precursors of students’ (N=351) weekly cost perceptions throughout a semester in college physics using a weekly diary survey. Costs were examined across four dimensions: task effort, outside effort, loss of valued alternatives, and emotional cost. Multilevel modeling indicated that weekly measures of belonging and self-regulated learning predicted lower levels of nearly all cost types. Additionally, baseline measures of students’ expectancies for success and physics identity were negatively related to most cost dimensions. Conversely, the number of credits students were enrolled in did not predict costs. This study contributes to better understanding how cost perceptions are formed and has implications for contributing to future interventions aimed at reducing costs.