High school students’ motivational profiles across three science domains and their associations with educational and career aspirations

One important mission of science education is to create a highly educated and skilled STEM workforce, yet in China as in many Western countries, universities often struggle to attract and retain students in science programmes. Selecting and persisting in a science major typically involves coursework across multiple science domains such as physics, chemistry and biology. Therefore, it is important to understand students’ discipline-specific motivational perceptions. The purpose of this study was to examine Chinese high school students’ motivational profiles (i.e. self-efficacy beliefs, perceived values and costs) across three science domains and how the profile membership related to their future educational and career aspirations. Latent profile analysis identified four profiles: low group (i.e. low self-efficacy, low value, moderately low cost), moderate all group (i.e. moderate self-efficacy, moderate value, moderate cost), moderately high group (i.e. moderate self-efficacy, moderately high value, moderately high cost) and high efficacy/low cost group (i.e. moderately high self-efficacy, moderate value, low cost). The profile membership was differentially related to students’ exam choices and major/career choices across three science domains. Findings of this study contribute to understanding the influence of motivational beliefs on students’ choice behaviours and suggest implications for future instructional interventions.