Achievement Motivation Goals in Relation to Academic Performance in Traditional and Nontraditional College Students

Abstract

This study extended Dweck's model of achievement motivation to the collegiate level, and it is the first to apply this model to nontraditional students. We examined the relationship between goal orientations and academic performance in 262 undergraduate students grouped by nontraditional vs. traditional status. Although both groups rated themselves higher on learning goals than on performance goals, non-traditional students endorsed learning goals even more strongly than their traditional peers. Goal orientations were a better predictor of academic success than student status. Consistent with Dweck's model, a learning goal orientation was positively related to successful academic performance for both groups. The relationship between performance goals and academic success was less straightforward, but students who rated both goal orientations as relatively weak had the lowest cumulative GPAs. Traditional and nontraditional students differed on variables that were inversely related to academic performance. Less successful traditional students endorsed irrational beliefs (a possible index of learned helplessness), while less successful nontraditional students worked more hours at a paid job.