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Goal orientations, coping with school failure and school achievement

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Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between goal orientation, coping with school failure and school achievement. Two questionnaires, Goal Orientation (Niemivirta, 1996a) and The School Failure Coping Scale (Rijavec & Brdar, 1997), were administered to 1057 high school students (aged from 15 to 17 years).

The first goal of this study was to explore whether students can be classified in groups according to their goal orientation. The results identified four clusters of students with different achievement profiles: learning oriented, work-avoidance oriented, both performance and learning oriented and both performance and work-avoidance oriented group. Learning oriented group used emotion-focused coping the least frequently while students with combined performance and work avoidanc orientation used this kind of coping the most frequently.

The second goal was to test the relationship between goal orientation patterns and the adoption of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies, and academic achievement. It was hypothesized that goal orientation could predict school achievement directly and indirectly through coping strategies. Coping strategies were considered as mediators between goal orientation and school achievement. Path analysis demonstrated that direct effects of goal orientation on school achievement were not significant. The relationship between goal orientation and school achievement was mediated by coping strategies.

Résumé

La présente étude a étudié le rapport entre l’orientation vers un but en confrontation avec l’échec et le succès scolaires. Deux questionnaires: l’Orientation vers un But (Niemivirta, 1996a) et l’Echelle Relative l’Echec Scolaire (Rijavec & Brdar, 1997) ont été remplis par 1057 élèves de l’enseignement secondaire (âgés de 15 à 17 ans).

Le premier objectif de cette étude était de constater si les élèves pouvaient être classés par groupes en fonction de l’orientation vers un but. Les résultats ont donné quatre clusters d’élèves avec différents profils d’accomplissement: orientés vers l’aquisition de savoir, orientés vers l’évitement du travail, orientés aussi bien vers l’acquisiton de savoir que les performances et orientés aussi bien vers l’évitement du travail que les performances. Les groupes orientés vers l’acquisiton de savoir ont recouru à la confrontation focalisée sur l’émotion le plus rarement, tandis que les élèves avec la combinaison des performances et de l’évitement du travail ont fait recours à cette sorte de confrontation le plus souvent.

Le deuxième objectif était de tester le rapport entre, d’une part, les échantillons et l’adoption de deux types de stratégies de confrontation et, d’autre part, entre ces buts et stratégies et le succès académique. Il avait été supposé que l’orientation vers un but pourrait prévoir le succès scolaire directement ou indirectement au moyen des stratégies de confrontation. Ces stratégies de confrontation ont été considérées comme médiateurs entre l’orientation vers un but et le succès scolaire. Les résultats de l’analyse des pistes causales ont démontré que les effets directs de l’orientation vers un but sur le succès scolaire n’ont pas été significatifs. Les stratégies de confrontation ont médiatisé le rapport entre l’orientation vers un but et le succès scolaire.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Rijeka, Trg Ivana Klobucarica 1, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia

    Ingrid Brdar

  2. Department of Primary Education, Teachers Education Academy, University of Zagreb, Savska cesta 77, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Majda Rijavec

  3. Teachers School of Professional Higher Education, University of Rijeka, Trg Ivana Klobucarica 1, 51000, Rijeka, Croatia

    Darko Loncaric

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  1. Ingrid Brdar
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  2. Majda Rijavec
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  3. Darko Loncaric
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Correspondence to Ingrid Brdar.

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Brdar, I., Rijavec, M. & Loncaric, D. Goal orientations, coping with school failure and school achievement. Eur J Psychol Educ 21, 53–70 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173569

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