Characterizing the Achievement Motivation Orientation of Children from Low- and Middle-Income Families

Research Findings: The current study examined achievement motivation orientation in preschool-age children from low- and middle-income families. Participants were 126 children who were attending an urban Head Start site or a private preschool. Children's motivation orientation was assessed as being performance oriented or mastery oriented using a challenging puzzle task (Smiley & Dweck, 1994). Children's verbalizations during the task were coded into performance concern, disengaged, and negative self-evaluation categories. Logistic regression and Mann-Whitney "U" analyses were conducted to examine differences between income groups in motivation orientation and verbalizations. Patterns of motivation orientation in preschool-age children from low- and middle-income families did not differ after controlling for differences in age and puzzle-solving ability. However, children from low-income families made a significantly higher proportion of performance-related verbalizations while working on the task. Practice or Policy: The findings support the examination of children's private speech as a way to assess cognitive processes underlying achievement motivation. In addition to providing a novel way to identify differences in achievement motivation that may be useful for teachers and researchers, the findings suggest the potential utility of designing interventions that promote positive private speech as a way of supporting mastery-oriented motivation in young children. (Contains 5 tables.)