Contemporary measures of approach and avoidance goal orientations: similarities and differences.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
In response to a resurgence of interest in and demonstrated utility of the approach-avoidance goal distinction, a number of researchers (Elliot & Church, 1997; Midgley et al., 1998; Skaalvik, 1997) have developed instruments to assess individual differences in the tendency to adopt approach-avoidance goals. However, to date there has been no attempt to examine the psychometric properties or conceptual and measurement overlap of these instruments.

AIMS:
(i) To determine whether three questionnaires designed to measure approach-avoidance goal orientations are assessing the same or different constructs, and (ii) to examine the psychometric properties of each of the approach-avoidance measures (i.e., internal consistency, convergent, discriminant, factorial, and construct validity).

SAMPLE:
Participants in this study were 475 undergraduate students (N = 228 males; N = 244 females; three missing information) enrolled at two large universities in the United Kingdom.

METHOD:
Participants completed a questionnaire which included measures of approach-avoidance goal orientations, effort regulation, test anxiety, perceived ability, and intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation.

RESULTS:
Results revealed a degree of convergence between the three instruments. Each of the instruments demonstrated good psychometric properties although construct validity results were inconsistent across the measures.

CONCLUSION:
There is a need for future research to clarify the operational definition and subsequent measurement of the performance avoidance construct, and in particular, to examine the role that effort, impression management, and anxiety/fear of failure play in its conceptualisation.

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Author information

Author/s: Smith, Michaela (M); Duda, Joan (J); Allen, Justine (J); Hall, Howard (H);

Affiliation: The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, UK.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The British journal of educational psychology (Br J Educ Psychol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Jun; vol 72 (issue Pt 2) : pp 155-90

Dates: Created 2002/05/24; Completed 2002/08/19; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12028607, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Internal-External Control
Male
Motivation
Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Students - psychology

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