Academic Motivation of Adolescents

Edited by:
Tim Urdan, Santa Clara University
Frank Pajares, Emory University

A volume in the series: Adolescence and Education. Editor(s): Daniela K. DiGiacomo, University of Kentucky. Erica Van Steenis, University of California Irvine.

Published 2002

Few academic issues are of greater concern to teachers, parents, and school administrators than the academic motivation of the adolescents in their care. There are good reasons for this concern. Students who are academically motivated perform better in school, value their schooling, are future-oriented in their academic pursuits, and possess the academic confidence and positive feelings of self-worth so necessary to increasing academic achievement. Because academically motivated students engage their schoolwork with confidence and interest, they are less likely to drop out of school, suffer fewer disciplinary problems, and prove resilient in the face of setbacks and obstacles. It is precisely because academic motivation is so essential to academic achievement that motivation has taken a place along with cognition as one of the most followed lines of inquiry in educational psychology. In this volume, we are fortunate to gather together some of the most eminent scholars who have written extensively about the academic motivation of adolescents. We are fortunate also in that they represent the varied theories and lines of inquiry that currently dominate research in this area.

In all, we believe that in the dozen chapters that comprise this volume, the authors provide elegant insights regarding the academic and social motivation of adolescents that will prove of interest to researchers, students, teachers, school administrators, parents, policymakers, and all others who play a pivotal role or are otherwise invested in the lives of adolescents in today's society. It is our hope that these insights will not only further the conversation on adolescence and education, but will serve as the impetus for further research capable of generating the creative ideas, programs, and structures so necessary to better the lives of the young people in our care.

CONTENTS
Foreword, Frank Pajares and Tim Urdan. Achieving Self-Regulation: The Trial and Triumph of Adolescence, Barry J. Zimmerman. Self-Efficacy and Adolescents' Motivation, Dale H. Schunk and Samuel D. Miller. Adolescents' Expectancies for Success and Achievement Task Values during the Middle and High School Years, Allan Wigfield and Stephen Tonks. The Pivotal Role of Frames of Reference in Academic Self-Concept Formation: The "Big Fish-Little Pond" Effect, Herbert W. Marsh and Rhonda G. Craven. Adolescents' Achievement Goals: Situating Motivation in Sociocultural Contexts, Avi Kaplan and Martin L. Maehr. Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: A Needs-Based Developmental Perspective, Martin V. Covington. What Adolescents Need: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective on Development within Families, School, and Society, Jennifer G. La Guardia and Richard M. Ryan. From Duty to Desire: The Role of Students' Future Time Perspective and Instrumentality Perceptions for Study Motivation and Self-Regulation, Willy Lens, Joke Simons, and Siegfried Dewitte. Interest and Adolescence, Suzanne Hidi and Mary Ainley. Social Determinants of Public Behavior of Middle School Youth: Perceived Peer Norms and Need to be Accepted, Jaana Juvonen and R. Jean Cadigan. The Development and Consequences of Stereotype Vulnerability in Adolescents, Joshua Aronson and Catherine Good. Studying Motivation to Learn during Early Adolescence: A Holistic Perspective, Robert W. Roeser and Mollie K. Galloway.