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Cultura y Educación
Children's academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membershipmatter?
--Manuscript Draft--
Full Title: Children's academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membershipmatter?
Manuscript Number: RCYE-2016-0120
Order of Authors: Loredana Diaconu-Gherasim
Luminita M. Iacob
Alin Gavreliuc
Article Type: Research Paper
Keywords: academic achievement; goal orientations; majority group, minority ethnic group;geographical region.
Abstract: This study explored how ethnic membership relates to children's academicachievement and goal orientations and whether there are ethnic differences in howgoal orientations are linked to academic achievement. Further, we investigatedwhether these relations vary based on the geographical region were ethnic groups live.The sample included 361 children (179 girls), age 12 to 15 years, from two regions inRomania, Banat (n = 237) and Moldavia (n = 124). Ethnic differences were found ingoal orientations between majority and minority children from both the same anddifferent geographical regions, whereas differences in academic achievement werefound only between ethnic groups who live in different areas. The strength of theassociations between goals and academic achievement were not significantly differentbased on ethnic and regional background. The findings show that there are ethnic andregional differences in children's achievement and goal orientations, however therelations among academic achievement and goal orientations are similar across theanalyzed ethnic and regional groups.
Funding Information: CNCSIS-UEFISCDI(849)
Dr. Loredana Diaconu-Gherasim
Additional Information:
Question Response
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Running head: ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 1
Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membership matter?
Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim, Luminita M. Iacob and Alin Gavreliuc
Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Department of Psychology, 3
Toma Cozma, Iasi Romania 700554, Tel. +40 232 201293, gloreda@uaic.ro
Luminita M. Iacob, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Department of Psychology, 3 Toma
Cozma, Iasi Romania 700554, Tel. +40 232 203015, lgim53@yahoo.com
Alin Gavreliuc, West University of Timisoara, Department of Psychology, 4 Vasile Pârvan
Timisoara, Romania, 300223, Tel. +40 256 592320 alin.gavreliuc@socio.uvt.ro
Corresponding author:
Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim, Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 3
Toma Cozma, Iasi Romania 700554
Email: gloreda@uaic.ro
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the CNCSIS-UEFISCDI, under Grant number 849, PNII_IDEI
2026/2008.
Manuscript - with author details (Manuscrito - con detalles de autor)
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 2
Abstract
This study explored how ethnic membership relates to children’s academic achievement
and goal orientations and whether there are ethnic differences in how goal orientations are linked
to academic achievement. Further, we investigated whether these relations vary based on the
geographical region were ethnic groups live. The sample included 361 children (179 girls), age
12 to 15 years, from two regions in Romania, Banat (n = 237) and Moldavia (n = 124). Ethnic
differences were found in goal orientations between majority and minority children from both the
same and different geographical regions, whereas differences in academic achievement were
found only between ethnic groups who live in different areas. The strength of the associations
between goals and academic achievement were not significantly different based on ethnic and
regional background. The findings show that there are ethnic and regional differences in
children’s achievement and goal orientations, however the relations among academic
achievement and goal orientations are similar across the analysed ethnic and regional groups.
Keywords: academic achievement; goal orientations; majority group, minority ethnic group;
geographical region
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 3
Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membership matter?
Academic achievement has been operationalised in many ways, including scores on
international and national standardized tests or specific school grades (Mark, 2014; Jæger, 2011).
Regardless of the measuring technique, academic achievement is a robust predictor of
adolescents’ future professional career opportunities or attainment of socioeconomic status in
adulthood (see De Witte, Cabus, Thyssen, Groot, & van den Brink, 2014 for a review). Given the
importance of academic achievement in children’s long term adjustment to their future
professional and social accomplishment, much effort has to be devoted on identifying the
psychological factors related to achievement, such as goal orientations. In addition to
psychological factor, cultural contexts, including ethnic membership (see Dekker & Fischer,
2008 for a review) and geographical areas (e.g., Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn &
Mirza, 2000), may shape children’s academic achievement and goal orientations, however, few
studies have investigated the relations among these factors and academic achievement and goal
orientations. The first purpose of our study was to investigate how ethnic membership relates to
children’s academic achievement and goal orientations. The second purpose of our study is to
explore whether these relations might vary based on geographic region where the ethnic groups
live (the same vs. different geographical regions within the country).
Academic achievement and ethnicity
Earlier literature on the relation between culture and academic achievement has provided
evidence of differences in test scores, school grades, high school completion rates or college
attainment between majority students and their ethnic minority peers in Western countries.
Specifically, studies have shown that a majority of European American children have had lower
levels of academic achievement compared to Asian American (i.e. Chinese Americans) minority
groups (see Warikoo & Carter, 2009 for a review) but have higher achievement than other
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 4
minority ethnic groups, including African American and Hispanic minority children (Alon &
Tienda, 2007; Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010). Recent studies have shown reverse ethnic
disparities, African American and Hispanic students performing better on standardized tests than
their majority high school classmates (Letcher & Tienda, 2010). When ethnic differences in
children’s academic achievement were explored across Western European countries (e.g., United
Kingdom and Belgium), mixed findings were reported. Some studies reported that White British
majority children performed better than other ethnic groups (i.e. White European and African) on
national tests except the Indian and Chinese minority groups (Khattab, 2015; Rothon, 2007).
Other studies found that White British children performed better on national tests that their Asian
peers (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Frumkin, 2013). Finally, other studies showed that both
White British and Belgian majority children had similar test scores with both East European and
African minority children (Belfi et al., 2014; Sammons, 1995; Shah, Dwyer, & Modood, 2010).
Relying on previous studies indicating regional differences in academic achievement (i.e.,
national tests) of Western children who live in different geographical areas within the same
country (e.g., Australia) or in different metropolitan (e.g., Melbourne and Wyndham) regions
(Caro, Cortina, & Eccles, 2015; Marks, 2014), it was suggested that geographical areas might
explain the inconsistent findings regarding ethnic differences in achievement. However, few
studies have explored how geographical region is related to children’s academic achievement and
ethnic membership. The results showed that although, overall the majority groups (i.e. White
British children) performed better on national tests than other ethnic minority groups (e.g.
African or Asian minority children), there were geographical areas within country where each of
ethnic minority group performed better than majority group (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008;
Gillborn & Mirza, 2000; Sammons, 1995). Differences in socio-economic family status,
including social class, parental education or family income may explain regional differences in
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 5
achievement between majority and minority children from Western countries (Mark, 2014;
Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010; Rueda et al., 2010; Sammons, 1995).
Studies investigating how ethnic membership relates to academic achievement across
Eastern European countries are relatively rare. It is important to note that East European societies
have the experience of communist regimes that structured their living conditions, including
education, in terms of decreasing the family interest in children’s education (Schwartz & Bardi,
1997). For example, studies conducted in Romania compared the majority with Hungarian
minority children, the largest minority group from this country (representing 6.60% of the total
population), and the findings provided an ambiguous picture of differences in children’s
achievement. Specifically, some studies have indicated that the Hungarian minority group had
lower levels of achievement compared to their majority peers (Bernath & Hatos, 2009; Csata,
2004; Hatos, 2011), while others reported opposite results, showing that Hungarian minority
children performed better in school than do their majority peers (Pasztor, 2006). Finally, other
studies have revealed no ethnic differences on academic achievement between these ethnic
groups (Wagner, 2012). Overall, little is known regarding the ethnic differences in children’s
academic achievement from Romania. To advance the literature, we evaluated whether there are
differences in children’s achievement between majority and Hungarian minority ethnic groups
from Romania. Based on previous literature, we expected that majority children would have
higher levels of achievement compared to their minority ethnic peers.
Further, the existing studies exploring the ethnic differences in children’s academic
achievement between Romanian and Hungarian children samples were conducted in Western
regions of Romania, particularly Transylvania (Bernath & Hatos, 2009; Csata, 2004; Hatos,
2011). These findings leave open the question whether ethnic differences in children’s academic
achievement are similar in other geographical regions within the country, such as Banat and
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 6
Moldavia. In this study we evaluated ethnic differences in children’s achievement between
majority and minority samples from two other geographical regions within the country -
Moldavia and Banat. The Moldavia is the Eastern region of Romania characterized by a low
socio-economic status and low density of minority groups (Voicu & Voicu, 2007). In this region
the proportion of Hungarian minority group is insignificant, representing less than 0.5% of the
population (Ghetau, 2012), so we could not include a sample of Hungarian minority children
from Moldavia. Banat, is the Western region of the country and is characterized by multi-
ethnicity as well as a higher socioeconomic homogeneity (Ghetau, 2012; Voicu & Voicu, 2007)..
Based on these findings, we expected that the majority children from Moldavia would have lower
levels of academic achievement than their peers from Banat.
Goal orientations and ethnicity
Goal orientations, defined as cognitive-motivational purposes for engagement in different
situations, are important antecedents to students’ cognition, affect and behaviour in achievement
situations (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). This present study draws on the trichotomous achievement
goal model (Elliot & Church, 1997) that distinguishes among three different achievement goals:
mastery goals - focused toward mastering content, learning and developing the competencies,
performance approach goals - orientated to demonstrate one’s competences and performance
relative to others and performance avoidance goals - focused on preventing failures and avoiding
normative incompetence. Previous studies conducted predominantly with participants from
Western countries (e.g., United States or Germany), confirmed that achievement goals are
captured by the trichotomous goal model (see Wirthwein, Sparfeldt, Pinquart, Wegerer, &
Steinmayr, 2013 for an extensive review).
However the theory is well-known, little studies have been carried out to study the goal
orientations cross-culturally. Specifically, studies conducted on adults from Western countries
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 7
(e.g., United States and Canada) and the findings showed that Asian American college students
were more performance avoidance orientated than their European American counterparts,
although they did not differ in terms of both mastery and performance approach goals (e.g.,
Elliot, Chirkov, Kim, & Sheldon, 2001). Fewer studies explored ethnic differences in goal
orientations on adolescent samples, and the results indicated that Asian American adolescents
reported higher levels of both performance approach and avoidance goals compared to their
Latino and European American peers (Witkow & Fuligni, 2007).The socio-economic level of the
ethnic group and the parents’ long-term socialization goals might explain why the meaning and
the implications of specific goal orientations vary based on ethnic group membership (Khattab,
2015; Modood, 2004).
Although previous literature investigated the goal orientations in East European countries
(e.g., Gherasim, Butnaru & Mairean, 2013; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009), studies comparing
achievement related goals based on ethnic membership within these countries are limited. The
studies conducted on Romanian samples, revealed that Hungarian minority children reported
similar level of mastery goals with the Romanian majority peers, whereas the Hungarian children
reported more performance avoidance goals than did majority children (Pasztor, 2006; Wagner,
2012). These findings were explained by the tendency of Hungarian minority children to focus
more on learning activities than their majority peers and to report more self-protective
mechanisms, such as higher levels of anxiety (Wagner, 2012). To advance the literature, we
evaluated whether there are ethnic differences in children’s goal orientations between the
majority and Hungarian minority groups from Romania. We expected that Romanian children
would have lower levels of performance avoidance and approach goals compared to their
Hungarian minority peers, but no differences on mastery goals between majority and minority
groups.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 8
In addition, previous literature review revealed that goal orientations are related to
societal levels of the human development index (see Dekker & Fischer, 2008 for a review). To
advance the literature, we evaluated whether there are ethnic differences in the levels of goal
orientations between majority and Hungarian minority samples living in geographical regions,
Banat and Moldavia. According to Dekker and Fischer (2008), we hypothesized that majority
children living in Moldavia, a geographical area with a low level of human development index
(Voicu & Voicu, 2007), have the tendency to adopt fewer mastery goals but more performance
goals, than both their majority and minority peers from Banat, a region with a higher index level
of human development.
Academic achievement, goal orientations, and ethnicity
Previous literature has shown that the achievement goal theory was employed to predict
and understand different children’s academic outcomes, including learning strategies, academic
engagement and social adjustment (see Wigfield & Cambria, 2010; Wirthwein et al., 2013 for
extensive reviews). Specifically, mastery goals are linked to deep cognitive strategies, adaptive
patterns of coping and positive emotions, performance approach goals have negative
consequences on learning strategies, achievement motivation and psychological well-being,
whereas performance avoidance goals were regularly linked to disinterest, negative emotions and
disorganized learning strategies.
A distinct set of studies focused on the achievement role of goal orientations on Western
samples (e.g., Western European countries and the United States; see Wirthwein et al., 2013 for
an extensive review). Overall the findings indicate that children who reported more mastery goals
had higher levels of academic achievement (e.g., Dinger, Dickhauser, Spinath, & Steinmayr,
2013). Regarding the achievement role of performance goals, mixed findings were reported.
Specifically, some studies reported that performance approach goals were positively related
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 9
children’s achievement while other studies found that these goals are unrelated to achievement
(e.g., Keys, Conley, Duncan, & Domina, 2012; Ku, Dittmar, & Banerjee, 2012). Further,
performance avoidance goals were negatively associated or unrelated to children’s academic
achievement (e.g., Keys et al., 2012; Ku et al., 2012).
Studies conducted on non-Western cultures have been relatively rare and limited to a few
cultural contexts. Positive associations of academic achievement with both mastery and
performance goals on East Asian samples (i.e. Chinese and Philippine) were reported (e.g. Liem,
Lau, & Nie, 2008). Studies conducted on East European countries (e. g., Romania and Slovakia)
indicated a similar positive impact of both mastery and performance approach goals on children’s
academic achievement, while performance avoidance goals were negatively related to their
achievement (Gherasim et al., 2013; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009).
Relatively rare are studies that have incorporated the examination of ethnic membership
and explored the relation between goal orientations and achievement. The studies conducted
primarily in Western countries (e.g. the United States) confirmed the achieving role of goals
according to the trichonomus model of goal orientations, however, the relations between
academic achievement and goals were inconsistent across different ethnic groups. Specifically,
some studies have found that mastery goals were related with middle school students’
achievement, while performance related goals did not link with achievement across White,
Hispanic and Vietnamese ethnic groups (Keys et al., 2012). Other studies have shown that
mastery goals predicted academic achievement across all middle and high school children
samples, whereas performance-avoidance goals negatively predicted achievement for British
students but not for Chinese students (Ku et al., 2012). Overall, little is known regarding the
ethnic differences in the relation between children’s goal orientations and academic achievement.
To advance in the literature, in this study we investigated the relation between goal orientations
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 10
and academic achievement and whether these relations differ based on ethnic membership.
Consistent with the context specificity hypothesis (Dekker and Fischer, 2008) we expected that
these relations would be different between majority and minority ethnic groups.
Finally, previous literature suggests that the geographical region may shape the relation
among achievement, goal orientations and ethnic membership (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008;
Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010; Rueda et al., 2010), but until now no study investigated these
relations. To add to the literature, in this study we explored whether the relations among ethnic
membership, achievement goal and orientations differ based on the geographical region.
According to the geographical region hypotheses (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Riegle-Crumb
& Grodsky, 2010), we expected the relations between mastery goals and academic achievement
to be stronger in Banat than in the Moldavia region, given the differences in socio-economic
status between these regions.
Method
Participants
The sample included 361 eighth grade students (179 girls; 72.6% Romanians and 27.4 %
Hungarians) enrolled in urban public schools in Banat (n = 237, 111 girls) and Moldavia (n =
124, 68 girls). Children from Banat were recruited from Timisoara, the most important city from
the region as well as two other urban areas from this region; the children from Moldavia were
recruited from Iasi, the most important city from the region. Specifically, the Banat samples
included the Romanian majority (n = 138, 68 girls) and Hungarian minority (n = 99, 43 girls)
children, while the Moldavian sample was comprised of only a majority Romanian sample (n =
129, 72 girls). Invitation letters describing the study were distributed to families throughout the
schools, and families agreed to let their children volunteer for the study. The mean age for the
entire sample was 13.36 (SD = .70), range between 12-15 years. The mean age for the Romanian
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 11
sample from Banat was 13.42, SD = .72, range 12 to 15 years; the mean age for the minority
Hungarian sample from Banat was 13.30, SD = .64, range 12 to 15 years; the mean age for the
majority children from Moldavia was 13.34, SD = .73, range between 12 to 15 years. There were
no significant differences in age, F (2,358) = .96, p > .05, or gender distribution, χ2s < 1.70, ps >
.05.
Procedure
As part of a larger study, the children filled in a questionnaire assessing goal orientations
during the first semester of the school year. Permission for the study was also obtained from the
school authorities and from the principals. The children’s average grades were collected from the
schools’ registers at the end of the first semester.
Measures
Goal orientations
Mastery and performance goal items from the Romanian version (Gherasim et al., 2013)
of the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS; Middleton & Midgley, 1997) were used to
measure the children’s goal orientations. The 31 item scale consists of three subscales assessing
the students’ mastery goals (five items, e.g. An important reason I do my class work is because I
like to learn new things), performance approach goals (five items; e.g. I want to do better than
other students in my classes) and performance avoidance goals (four items, e.g. The reason I do
my work is so the teacher won’t think I know less than the others). The participants responded to
each item using a 5-point scale, from 1 = not at all true to 5 = very true. One item was eliminated
because of the low correlation with the mastery subscale. The total score, created by averaging
the responses across items, was calculated for each goal scale; the higher score indicated a higher
level of goal orientations. Previous studies showed that PALS had demonstrated good test-retest
reliability and consistent correlations with various measures of academic motivation and
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 12
emotional outcomes which supported the construct validity of the scale (Dinger et al., 2013; Keys
et al., 2012; Gherasim et al. 2013). In this study, alphas for the entire sample were .77, .65
and.72 for the performance approach as well as the performance avoidance and mastery goals.
Alphas for each ethnic and regional group ranged between .69 and .77 for the performance
approach goal, .65 to .67 for performance avoidance goals and .65 to .76 for mastery goals.
Academic achievement
We collected the children’s average grades for each of the most important subjects (Math,
Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Romanian and English) from the schools’ registers. The overall
average grade across all subjects was computed.
Results
We conducted the preliminary analyses to investigate whether the children’s age, gender,
family socioeconomic status and family status (intact vs. not intact families) were related to the
children’s goal orientations and achievement. Significant demographic effects are noted in the
relevant sections, and these variables were included as control variables in subsequent analyses as
needed. Next, we evaluated whether there were ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal
orientations and achievement. Finally, we presented the associations among the main study
variables and whether there were differences in the associations among goals and achievement
based on the adolescents’ ethnic and regional groups. For each analysis, we first discussed the
results based on the entire sample, followed by results based on each ethnic and regional group.
Preliminary analyses
Zero-order associations did not show significant associations of the children’s age, family
income and parental level of education with goal orientations and achievement (rs < .07, ps >
.05) except for the positive associations between age and performance approach goals (r = .10, p
= .04) and negative correlation between the mother’s level of education and performance
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 13
avoidance goals (r = -.12, p = .02). Further, there were no significant differences in both the
performance approach and avoidance goals based on the child’s gender or family status.
However, the t-tests revealed a significant gender effect on the children’s achievement, ts (359) =
4.18, p < .01. Girls compared to boys reported a higher level of academic achievement, M (SD) =
8.00(1.38) and M (SD) = 7.37(1.44). Follow-up analyses on each ethnic/regional sample, showed
that these results were significant for both the minority, t (97) = 2.73, p = .007 and majority
children from Banat, t (136) = 1.83, p = .069. For both ethnic girl groups, M (SD) = 8.37(1.43)
and M (SD) = 7.98(1.46) reported higher grades compared to the boys, M (SD) = 7.58(1.43) and
M (SD) = 7.53(1.43). Further, the Romanian girls from Moldavia reported a higher level of
achievement than the boys, t (122) = 3.37, p = .001, M (SD) = 7.77(1.22) and M (SD) =
6.97(1.43) and M (SD) = 2.54(.95). Because of the gender differences in academic achievement,
below we report whether controlling for child gender changed any results.
Regarding the associations among goal orientations, zero-order correlations showed that,
based on the entire sample, children who reported higher levels of performance approach goals
also reported higher levels of both performance avoidance and mastery goals (see Table 1).
Further, controlling for gender did not change the results significantly.
When analysis were conducted for each ethnic and regional group separately, the
associations between the performance-approach were significant for all the children’s samples.
Further, the associations between performance approach and mastery goals were significant for
both majority Romanian and minority Hungarian children from Banat but not for Romanians
from Moldavia. Overall, these results confirmed the link among different types of achievement
goals (Keys et al., 2012). The results did not change significantly when controlling for gender
(see Table 2).
Ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal orientations
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 14
ANOVA analyses showed that there were main effects of ethnic groups on children’s
performance avoidance goals, F (1,231) = 6.51, p = .01, η2 = .02. As shown in Table 2, majority
children reported lower levels of performance avoidance goals compared to their minority peers
who live in the same geographical area. In addition, there was a main effect of ethnicity on
performance approach goals, F (1,222) = 19.90, p < .01, η2 = .08. The majority Romanian
children from Moldavia have a lower level of performance approach goals compared to their
Hungarian peers from Banat.
Finally, there was a significant main effect of geographical region on both majority
children’s performance approach goals, F (1,266) = 9.40, p < .002, η2 = .03 and performance
avoidance goals, F (1,266) = 3.30, p = .084, η2 = .01. Romanian children from Banat reported
lower levels of both performance-approach and avoidance goals compared to Romanians from
Banat (see Table 2).
Ethnic and regional differences in children’s academic achievement
We found some main effects of the ethnic group on children’s achievement only when
minority and majority children live in different geographical areas, Fs (1,222) = 11.04, p < .001,
η2 = .04. Specifically, Romanians from Moldavia have lower levels of achievement compared to
their Hungarian peers from Banat. In addition, we found a significant main effect of geographical
region on children’s achievement, F (1,267) = 4.82, p = .02, η2 = .01. Majority children from
Moldavia had lower levels of academic achievement compared to their majority peers from
Banat.
Associations between children’s goal orientations and achievement
Table 1 presents the zero-order correlations among children’s goal orientations and
academic achievement on the entire sample. Associations were generally modest in magnitude,
ranging between .07 and .25 and showed that children who reported a high level of mastery goals
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 15
but a low level of performance avoidance goals had higher academic achievement. These results
did not change significantly when controlling for the gender.
When patterns of associations were examined for each ethnic and regional group, the
findings were similar (see Table 2). In each ethnic and regional group the performance avoidance
goals were negatively associated with achievement, while mastery goals were positively related
to achievement for both ethnic samples from Banat but not for majority children from Moldavia.
In addition, the performance approach was related to achievement only for the majority ethnic
group from Banat. These results did not change significantly when controlling for the gender.
Variance in child academic achievement explained by goal orientations and ethnic or/and
geographical region
To examine how much variance in child academic achievement on the entire sample is
explained by the goal orientations we conducted a regression analyses. The results indicate that,
after controlling for gender, goal orientations altogether explained a significant variance in the
children’s academic achievement (ΔR2 = .41, F (4, 356) = 15.60, p < .01), both mastery and
performance avoidance goals being significant predictors of achievement.
Cultural differences in the relations between children’s goal orientations and achievement
We conducted an exploratory analysis to investigate whether there were ethnic and
regional differences in the associations between children’s goal orientations and academic
achievement. The patterns of correlations between goals and the children’s academic
achievement presented in Table 2 were not significantly different for Romanians from Banat,
Hungarians from Banat and Romanians from Moldavia (all Zs < 1.96, ps > .05).
Discussion
Our study investigated how ethnic membership and geographical region relate to
children’s academic achievement and goal orientations. Further, the study explored whether there
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 16
are ethnic or regional differences in how the goal orientations are associated with children’s
academic achievement. This study adds to the literature by using a cross-cultural approach and
exploring whether there are ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal orientations and
their academic achievement. Further, the study enhanced the literature by evaluating the relations
between goal orientations and children’s academic achievement and whether these relations differ
as a function of ethnic and geographical region.
The findings revealed ethnic differences in children’s academic achievement between
majority and minority children only when the geographical region was considered. Specifically,
minority children had higher levels of academic achievement compared to their majority peers
living in another geographical region but not compared to majority peers from the same
geographical area. These results are consistent with previous research conducted on ethnic groups
from Western countries showing that differences in children’s achievement between majority and
minority ethnicities depend on the country’s geographical areas where the studies have been
carried out (Belfi et al., 2014; Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000; Sammons,
1995). Further, the results also confirm previous studies conducted in the Romanian context
indicating no ethnic differences in academic achievement between majority and Hungarian
minority children from Transylvania, a central geographical region within country (Bernath &
Hatos, 2009; Wagner, 2012). Finally, we found regional differences in the children’s
achievement; the majority children from Banat had a higher level of achievement compared to
those from Moldavia. These results complement previous findings indicating that the
geographical region needs to be considered when ethnic differences between majority children
and minority are explored (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000). Taken
together, these results revealed that majority children are more similar to their minority peers who
live in the same region, than with their majority peers who live in another region. These findings
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 17
are consistent with previous literature indicating that there are more attitudes and value
similarities among adults who live in the same area (Banat), even if they are members of different
ethnic groups, than individuals who live in other geographical areas, including Moldavia
(Gavreliuc, 2011).
The results showed that both minority and majority children, regardless the geographical
region, reported similar levels of mastery goals. These findings are in line with previous studies
showing no ethnic differences between Hungarian minority children and their majority peers
(Pasztor, 2006; Wagner, 2012). One explanation for these findings could be that in this study the
family’s socioeconomic status was similar across ethnic groups (Dekker & Fischer, 2008).
Further, we found ethnic differences in children’s performance goals. Specifically, we
found that minority children reported higher levels of performance avoidance goals compared to
their majority peers from the same geographical region (Banat) and higher levels of performance
approach goals compared to their majority peers from another area (Moldavia). These results are
in line with previous studies indicating that the majority Western adolescents reported lower
levels of performance goals compared to their minority peers (Rueda et al., 2010; Witkow &
Fuligni, 2007). Further, the findings confirm previous studies conducted in other region of
Romania (i.e., Transylvania) showing that Hungarian minority children reported higher levels of
performance-avoidance goals compared to their majority peers (Pasztor, 2006). These results
could be explained by tendency of Hungarian children to use more the self-protective
mechanisms, like handicapping strategies, which in turn may determine higher levels of
performance goals (Wagner, 2012).
Regarding the association between goal orientations and academic achievement, the
results showed that children who reported higher levels of mastery goals had higher levels of
academic achievement, while those who reported higher levels of performance avoidance goals
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 18
had lower levels of achievement across all ethnic and regional samples. These findings are
consistent with previous literature showing that mastery goals, compared to performance
avoidance goals, are associated with higher levels of academic achievement (Dinger et al., 2013;
Keys et al., 2012; Middleton & Midgley, 1997). In addition, we added to the literature by
showing that the relations of goal orientations with achievement do not vary based on the ethnic
and regional contexts. Further, the associations are similar even when it comes to considering the
geographical regions within the country where the ethnic samples live. Future studies should
investigate whether these results regarding the relation between goal orientations and
achievement generalize to other ethnic or geographical regions from other East European
countries.
Although this study represents a step toward the study of ethnic and regional differences
in children’s goal orientations and academic achievement, several limitations should be noted.
First, our study focused on the one dimension of achievement, the children’s grades, however, the
academic achievement is a broader construct, and future studies should address these relations in
regard to other indexes of academic achievement, such as national assessments. Second, our
results are correlational and do not lend themselves to any causal interpretations. Using a
longitudinal design would allow one to determine the direction of the effects of the associations
between goals and achievement. For example, it is likely that a child’s level of academic
achievement may trigger achievement goals that are consistent with mastery goals. Finally, while
a child’s perspective on their goal orientations provides valuable information, future studies
should rely on a multiple informant approach that (i.e. parents and teachers) may capture
characteristics of a learning environment, such as an ethnic school structure or classroom goal
orientations.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 19
Despite these limitations, these current findings offer an integrative perspective toward
understanding new and important sources of children’s achievement. We found that majority and
minority children from the same geographical region have similar levels of academic
achievement, but both of these ethnic samples had higher levels of achievement than majority
children who live in another geographical region characterized by low levels of human
developmental index. This study showed that the relations between goal orientations and
academic achievement are similar and important across all ethnic and regional contexts
investigated in this study.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 20
Table 1
Zero-order associations among main study variables
M SD Range 1 2 3 4
1. Performance approach goals 3.24 .96 1 - 5 .23** .36** .08
2. Performance avoidance goals 2.35 .92 1 - 4.75 .23** .02 -.24**
3. Mastery goals 3.52 .93 1 - 5 .36** .01 .20**
4. Achievement 7.68 1.44 4.29 - 10 .07 -.25** .21**
Note: N = 361; upper right – zero-order associations; lower left – partial correlations controlling
for the child’s gender.
* p < .05. ** p < .01.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 21
Table 2
Zero-order associations among the main study variables for each ethnic and /or regional sample
Mean SD 1 2 3 4
Romanian majority group from
Banat
1. Performance approach goals 3.16c .98 .28** .37** .20*
2. Performance avoidance goals 2.20a,c .92 .28** .13 -.24**
3. Mastery goals 3.51 .92 .36** .13 .24**
4. Achievement 7.75c 1.46 .20* -.23** .25**
Minority Hungarian group from
Banat
1. Performance approach goals 2.99b .90 .32** .30** .02
2. Performance avoidance goals 2.56a .90 .33** -.06 -.37**
3. Mastery goals 3.34 .96 .29** -.07 .32**
4. Achievement 7.93b 1.46 -.01 -.38** .33**
Romanian majority group from
Moldavia
1. Performance approach goals 3.53b,c .93 .14 .36** .12
2. Performance avoidance goals 2.35c .89 .15† -.005 -.17†
3. Mastery goals 3.68 .90 .35** -.03 .11
4. Achievement 7.41b,c 1.37 .10 -.22* .14
Note: Romanian ethnic group from Banat n = 138, Hungarian ethnic group from Banat n = 99;
Romanian ethnic group from Moldavia n = 124; upper right – zero-order associations; lower left
– partial correlations controlling for the child’s gender.
a – significant difference between Romanian and Hungarian samples from Banat, b – significant
difference between the Romanian sample from Moldavia and the Hungarian sample from Banat,
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 22
c – significant difference between Romanian sample from Banat and Romanian sample from
Moldavia.
* p < .05. ** p < .01. † p = .088.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 23
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Running head: ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 1
Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membership matter?
Manuscript - anonymous (Manuscrito - anónimo)
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 2
Abstract
This study explored how ethnic membership relates to children’s academic achievement
and goal orientations and whether there are ethnic differences in how goal orientations are linked
to academic achievement. Further, we investigated whether these relations vary based on the
geographical region were ethnic groups live. The sample included 361 children (179 girls), age
12 to 15 years, from two regions in Romania, Banat (n = 237) and Moldavia (n = 124). Ethnic
differences were found in goal orientations between majority and minority children from both the
same and different geographical regions, whereas differences in academic achievement were
found only between ethnic groups who live in different areas. The strength of the associations
between goals and academic achievement were not significantly different based on ethnic and
regional background. The findings show that there are ethnic and regional differences in
children’s achievement and goal orientations, however the relations among academic
achievement and goal orientations are similar across the analysed ethnic and regional groups.
Keywords: academic achievement; goal orientations; majority group, minority ethnic group;
geographical region
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 3
Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membership matter?
Academic achievement has been operationalised in many ways, including scores on
international and national standardized tests or specific school grades (Mark, 2014; Jæger, 2011).
Regardless of the measuring technique, academic achievement is a robust predictor of
adolescents’ future professional career opportunities or attainment of socioeconomic status in
adulthood (see De Witte, Cabus, Thyssen, Groot, & van den Brink, 2014 for a review). Given the
importance of academic achievement in children’s long term adjustment to their future
professional and social accomplishment, much effort has to be devoted on identifying the
psychological factors related to achievement, such as goal orientations. In addition to
psychological factor, cultural contexts, including ethnic membership (see Dekker & Fischer,
2008 for a review) and geographical areas (e.g., Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn &
Mirza, 2000), may shape children’s academic achievement and goal orientations, however, few
studies have investigated the relations among these factors and academic achievement and goal
orientations. The first purpose of our study was to investigate how ethnic membership relates to
children’s academic achievement and goal orientations. The second purpose of our study is to
explore whether these relations might vary based on geographic region where the ethnic groups
live (the same vs. different geographical regions within the country).
Academic achievement and ethnicity
Earlier literature on the relation between culture and academic achievement has provided
evidence of differences in test scores, school grades, high school completion rates or college
attainment between majority students and their ethnic minority peers in Western countries.
Specifically, studies have shown that a majority of European American children have had lower
levels of academic achievement compared to Asian American (i.e. Chinese Americans) minority
groups (see Warikoo & Carter, 2009 for a review) but have higher achievement than other
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 4
minority ethnic groups, including African American and Hispanic minority children (Alon &
Tienda, 2007; Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010). Recent studies have shown reverse ethnic
disparities, African American and Hispanic students performing better on standardized tests than
their majority high school classmates (Letcher & Tienda, 2010). When ethnic differences in
children’s academic achievement were explored across Western European countries (e.g., United
Kingdom and Belgium), mixed findings were reported. Some studies reported that White British
majority children performed better than other ethnic groups (i.e. White European and African) on
national tests except the Indian and Chinese minority groups (Khattab, 2015; Rothon, 2007).
Other studies found that White British children performed better on national tests that their Asian
peers (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Frumkin, 2013). Finally, other studies showed that both
White British and Belgian majority children had similar test scores with both East European and
African minority children (Belfi et al., 2014; Sammons, 1995; Shah, Dwyer, & Modood, 2010).
Relying on previous studies indicating regional differences in academic achievement (i.e.,
national tests) of Western children who live in different geographical areas within the same
country (e.g., Australia) or in different metropolitan (e.g., Melbourne and Wyndham) regions
(Caro, Cortina, & Eccles, 2015; Marks, 2014), it was suggested that geographical areas might
explain the inconsistent findings regarding ethnic differences in achievement. However, few
studies have explored how geographical region is related to children’s academic achievement and
ethnic membership. The results showed that although, overall the majority groups (i.e. White
British children) performed better on national tests than other ethnic minority groups (e.g.
African or Asian minority children), there were geographical areas within country where each of
ethnic minority group performed better than majority group (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008;
Gillborn & Mirza, 2000; Sammons, 1995). Differences in socio-economic family status,
including social class, parental education or family income may explain regional differences in
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 5
achievement between majority and minority children from Western countries (Mark, 2014;
Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010; Rueda et al., 2010; Sammons, 1995).
Studies investigating how ethnic membership relates to academic achievement across
Eastern European countries are relatively rare. It is important to note that East European societies
have the experience of communist regimes that structured their living conditions, including
education, in terms of decreasing the family interest in children’s education (Schwartz & Bardi,
1997). For example, studies conducted in Romania compared the majority with Hungarian
minority children, the largest minority group from this country (representing 6.60% of the total
population), and the findings provided an ambiguous picture of differences in children’s
achievement. Specifically, some studies have indicated that the Hungarian minority group had
lower levels of achievement compared to their majority peers (Bernath & Hatos, 2009; Csata,
2004; Hatos, 2011), while others reported opposite results, showing that Hungarian minority
children performed better in school than do their majority peers (Pasztor, 2006). Finally, other
studies have revealed no ethnic differences on academic achievement between these ethnic
groups (Wagner, 2012). Overall, little is known regarding the ethnic differences in children’s
academic achievement from Romania. To advance the literature, we evaluated whether there are
differences in children’s achievement between majority and Hungarian minority ethnic groups
from Romania. Based on previous literature, we expected that majority children would have
higher levels of achievement compared to their minority ethnic peers.
Further, the existing studies exploring the ethnic differences in children’s academic
achievement between Romanian and Hungarian children samples were conducted in Western
regions of Romania, particularly Transylvania (Bernath & Hatos, 2009; Csata, 2004; Hatos,
2011). These findings leave open the question whether ethnic differences in children’s academic
achievement are similar in other geographical regions within the country, such as Banat and
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 6
Moldavia. In this study we evaluated ethnic differences in children’s achievement between
majority and minority samples from two other geographical regions within the country -
Moldavia and Banat. The Moldavia is the Eastern region of Romania characterized by a low
socio-economic status and low density of minority groups (Voicu & Voicu, 2007). In this region
the proportion of Hungarian minority group is insignificant, representing less than 0.5% of the
population (Ghetau, 2012), so we could not include a sample of Hungarian minority children
from Moldavia. Banat, is the Western region of the country and is characterized by multi-
ethnicity as well as a higher socioeconomic homogeneity (Ghetau, 2012; Voicu & Voicu, 2007)..
Based on these findings, we expected that the majority children from Moldavia would have lower
levels of academic achievement than their peers from Banat.
Goal orientations and ethnicity
Goal orientations, defined as cognitive-motivational purposes for engagement in different
situations, are important antecedents to students’ cognition, affect and behaviour in achievement
situations (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). This present study draws on the trichotomous achievement
goal model (Elliot & Church, 1997) that distinguishes among three different achievement goals:
mastery goals - focused toward mastering content, learning and developing the competencies,
performance approach goals - orientated to demonstrate one’s competences and performance
relative to others and performance avoidance goals - focused on preventing failures and avoiding
normative incompetence. Previous studies conducted predominantly with participants from
Western countries (e.g., United States or Germany), confirmed that achievement goals are
captured by the trichotomous goal model (see Wirthwein, Sparfeldt, Pinquart, Wegerer, &
Steinmayr, 2013 for an extensive review).
However the theory is well-known, little studies have been carried out to study the goal
orientations cross-culturally. Specifically, studies conducted on adults from Western countries
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 7
(e.g., United States and Canada) and the findings showed that Asian American college students
were more performance avoidance orientated than their European American counterparts,
although they did not differ in terms of both mastery and performance approach goals (e.g.,
Elliot, Chirkov, Kim, & Sheldon, 2001). Fewer studies explored ethnic differences in goal
orientations on adolescent samples, and the results indicated that Asian American adolescents
reported higher levels of both performance approach and avoidance goals compared to their
Latino and European American peers (Witkow & Fuligni, 2007).The socio-economic level of the
ethnic group and the parents’ long-term socialization goals might explain why the meaning and
the implications of specific goal orientations vary based on ethnic group membership (Khattab,
2015; Modood, 2004).
Although previous literature investigated the goal orientations in East European countries
(e.g., Gherasim, Butnaru & Mairean, 2013; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009), studies comparing
achievement related goals based on ethnic membership within these countries are limited. The
studies conducted on Romanian samples, revealed that Hungarian minority children reported
similar level of mastery goals with the Romanian majority peers, whereas the Hungarian children
reported more performance avoidance goals than did majority children (Pasztor, 2006; Wagner,
2012). These findings were explained by the tendency of Hungarian minority children to focus
more on learning activities than their majority peers and to report more self-protective
mechanisms, such as higher levels of anxiety (Wagner, 2012). To advance the literature, we
evaluated whether there are ethnic differences in children’s goal orientations between the
majority and Hungarian minority groups from Romania. We expected that Romanian children
would have lower levels of performance avoidance and approach goals compared to their
Hungarian minority peers, but no differences on mastery goals between majority and minority
groups.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 8
In addition, previous literature review revealed that goal orientations are related to
societal levels of the human development index (see Dekker & Fischer, 2008 for a review). To
advance the literature, we evaluated whether there are ethnic differences in the levels of goal
orientations between majority and Hungarian minority samples living in geographical regions,
Banat and Moldavia. According to Dekker and Fischer (2008), we hypothesized that majority
children living in Moldavia, a geographical area with a low level of human development index
(Voicu & Voicu, 2007), have the tendency to adopt fewer mastery goals but more performance
goals, than both their majority and minority peers from Banat, a region with a higher index level
of human development.
Academic achievement, goal orientations, and ethnicity
Previous literature has shown that the achievement goal theory was employed to predict
and understand different children’s academic outcomes, including learning strategies, academic
engagement and social adjustment (see Wigfield & Cambria, 2010; Wirthwein et al., 2013 for
extensive reviews). Specifically, mastery goals are linked to deep cognitive strategies, adaptive
patterns of coping and positive emotions, performance approach goals have negative
consequences on learning strategies, achievement motivation and psychological well-being,
whereas performance avoidance goals were regularly linked to disinterest, negative emotions and
disorganized learning strategies.
A distinct set of studies focused on the achievement role of goal orientations on Western
samples (e.g., Western European countries and the United States; see Wirthwein et al., 2013 for
an extensive review). Overall the findings indicate that children who reported more mastery goals
had higher levels of academic achievement (e.g., Dinger, Dickhauser, Spinath, & Steinmayr,
2013). Regarding the achievement role of performance goals, mixed findings were reported.
Specifically, some studies reported that performance approach goals were positively related
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 9
children’s achievement while other studies found that these goals are unrelated to achievement
(e.g., Keys, Conley, Duncan, & Domina, 2012; Ku, Dittmar, & Banerjee, 2012). Further,
performance avoidance goals were negatively associated or unrelated to children’s academic
achievement (e.g., Keys et al., 2012; Ku et al., 2012).
Studies conducted on non-Western cultures have been relatively rare and limited to a few
cultural contexts. Positive associations of academic achievement with both mastery and
performance goals on East Asian samples (i.e. Chinese and Philippine) were reported (e.g. Liem,
Lau, & Nie, 2008). Studies conducted on East European countries (e. g., Romania and Slovakia)
indicated a similar positive impact of both mastery and performance approach goals on children’s
academic achievement, while performance avoidance goals were negatively related to their
achievement (Gherasim et al., 2013; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009).
Relatively rare are studies that have incorporated the examination of ethnic membership
and explored the relation between goal orientations and achievement. The studies conducted
primarily in Western countries (e.g. the United States) confirmed the achieving role of goals
according to the trichonomus model of goal orientations, however, the relations between
academic achievement and goals were inconsistent across different ethnic groups. Specifically,
some studies have found that mastery goals were related with middle school students’
achievement, while performance related goals did not link with achievement across White,
Hispanic and Vietnamese ethnic groups (Keys et al., 2012). Other studies have shown that
mastery goals predicted academic achievement across all middle and high school children
samples, whereas performance-avoidance goals negatively predicted achievement for British
students but not for Chinese students (Ku et al., 2012). Overall, little is known regarding the
ethnic differences in the relation between children’s goal orientations and academic achievement.
To advance in the literature, in this study we investigated the relation between goal orientations
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 10
and academic achievement and whether these relations differ based on ethnic membership.
Consistent with the context specificity hypothesis (Dekker and Fischer, 2008) we expected that
these relations would be different between majority and minority ethnic groups.
Finally, previous literature suggests that the geographical region may shape the relation
among achievement, goal orientations and ethnic membership (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008;
Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010; Rueda et al., 2010), but until now no study investigated these
relations. To add to the literature, in this study we explored whether the relations among ethnic
membership, achievement goal and orientations differ based on the geographical region.
According to the geographical region hypotheses (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Riegle-Crumb
& Grodsky, 2010), we expected the relations between mastery goals and academic achievement
to be stronger in Banat than in the Moldavia region, given the differences in socio-economic
status between these regions.
Method
Participants
The sample included 361 eighth grade students (179 girls; 72.6% Romanians and 27.4 %
Hungarians) enrolled in urban public schools in Banat (n = 237, 111 girls) and Moldavia (n =
124, 68 girls). Children from Banat were recruited from Timisoara, the most important city from
the region as well as two other urban areas from this region; the children from Moldavia were
recruited from Iasi, the most important city from the region. Specifically, the Banat samples
included the Romanian majority (n = 138, 68 girls) and Hungarian minority (n = 99, 43 girls)
children, while the Moldavian sample was comprised of only a majority Romanian sample (n =
129, 72 girls). Invitation letters describing the study were distributed to families throughout the
schools, and families agreed to let their children volunteer for the study. The mean age for the
entire sample was 13.36 (SD = .70), range between 12-15 years. The mean age for the Romanian
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 11
sample from Banat was 13.42, SD = .72, range 12 to 15 years; the mean age for the minority
Hungarian sample from Banat was 13.30, SD = .64, range 12 to 15 years; the mean age for the
majority children from Moldavia was 13.34, SD = .73, range between 12 to 15 years. There were
no significant differences in age, F (2,358) = .96, p > .05, or gender distribution, χ2s < 1.70, ps >
.05.
Procedure
As part of a larger study, the children filled in a questionnaire assessing goal orientations
during the first semester of the school year. Permission for the study was also obtained from the
school authorities and from the principals. The children’s average grades were collected from the
schools’ registers at the end of the first semester.
Measures
Goal orientations
Mastery and performance goal items from the Romanian version (Gherasim et al., 2013)
of the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS; Middleton & Midgley, 1997) were used to
measure the children’s goal orientations. The 31 item scale consists of three subscales assessing
the students’ mastery goals (five items, e.g. An important reason I do my class work is because I
like to learn new things), performance approach goals (five items; e.g. I want to do better than
other students in my classes) and performance avoidance goals (four items, e.g. The reason I do
my work is so the teacher won’t think I know less than the others). The participants responded to
each item using a 5-point scale, from 1 = not at all true to 5 = very true. One item was eliminated
because of the low correlation with the mastery subscale. The total score, created by averaging
the responses across items, was calculated for each goal scale; the higher score indicated a higher
level of goal orientations. Previous studies showed that PALS had demonstrated good test-retest
reliability and consistent correlations with various measures of academic motivation and
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 12
emotional outcomes which supported the construct validity of the scale (Dinger et al., 2013; Keys
et al., 2012; Gherasim et al. 2013). In this study, alphas for the entire sample were .77, .65
and.72 for the performance approach as well as the performance avoidance and mastery goals.
Alphas for each ethnic and regional group ranged between .69 and .77 for the performance
approach goal, .65 to .67 for performance avoidance goals and .65 to .76 for mastery goals.
Academic achievement
We collected the children’s average grades for each of the most important subjects (Math,
Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Romanian and English) from the schools’ registers. The overall
average grade across all subjects was computed.
Results
We conducted the preliminary analyses to investigate whether the children’s age, gender,
family socioeconomic status and family status (intact vs. not intact families) were related to the
children’s goal orientations and achievement. Significant demographic effects are noted in the
relevant sections, and these variables were included as control variables in subsequent analyses as
needed. Next, we evaluated whether there were ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal
orientations and achievement. Finally, we presented the associations among the main study
variables and whether there were differences in the associations among goals and achievement
based on the adolescents’ ethnic and regional groups. For each analysis, we first discussed the
results based on the entire sample, followed by results based on each ethnic and regional group.
Preliminary analyses
Zero-order associations did not show significant associations of the children’s age, family
income and parental level of education with goal orientations and achievement (rs < .07, ps >
.05) except for the positive associations between age and performance approach goals (r = .10, p
= .04) and negative correlation between the mother’s level of education and performance
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 13
avoidance goals (r = -.12, p = .02). Further, there were no significant differences in both the
performance approach and avoidance goals based on the child’s gender or family status.
However, the t-tests revealed a significant gender effect on the children’s achievement, ts (359) =
4.18, p < .01. Girls compared to boys reported a higher level of academic achievement, M (SD) =
8.00(1.38) and M (SD) = 7.37(1.44). Follow-up analyses on each ethnic/regional sample, showed
that these results were significant for both the minority, t (97) = 2.73, p = .007 and majority
children from Banat, t (136) = 1.83, p = .069. For both ethnic girl groups, M (SD) = 8.37(1.43)
and M (SD) = 7.98(1.46) reported higher grades compared to the boys, M (SD) = 7.58(1.43) and
M (SD) = 7.53(1.43). Further, the Romanian girls from Moldavia reported a higher level of
achievement than the boys, t (122) = 3.37, p = .001, M (SD) = 7.77(1.22) and M (SD) =
6.97(1.43) and M (SD) = 2.54(.95). Because of the gender differences in academic achievement,
below we report whether controlling for child gender changed any results.
Regarding the associations among goal orientations, zero-order correlations showed that,
based on the entire sample, children who reported higher levels of performance approach goals
also reported higher levels of both performance avoidance and mastery goals (see Table 1).
Further, controlling for gender did not change the results significantly.
When analysis were conducted for each ethnic and regional group separately, the
associations between the performance-approach were significant for all the children’s samples.
Further, the associations between performance approach and mastery goals were significant for
both majority Romanian and minority Hungarian children from Banat but not for Romanians
from Moldavia. Overall, these results confirmed the link among different types of achievement
goals (Keys et al., 2012). The results did not change significantly when controlling for gender
(see Table 2).
Ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal orientations
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 14
ANOVA analyses showed that there were main effects of ethnic groups on children’s
performance avoidance goals, F (1,231) = 6.51, p = .01, η2 = .02. As shown in Table 2, majority
children reported lower levels of performance avoidance goals compared to their minority peers
who live in the same geographical area. In addition, there was a main effect of ethnicity on
performance approach goals, F (1,222) = 19.90, p < .01, η2 = .08. The majority Romanian
children from Moldavia have a lower level of performance approach goals compared to their
Hungarian peers from Banat.
Finally, there was a significant main effect of geographical region on both majority
children’s performance approach goals, F (1,266) = 9.40, p < .002, η2 = .03 and performance
avoidance goals, F (1,266) = 3.30, p = .084, η2 = .01. Romanian children from Banat reported
lower levels of both performance-approach and avoidance goals compared to Romanians from
Banat (see Table 2).
Ethnic and regional differences in children’s academic achievement
We found some main effects of the ethnic group on children’s achievement only when
minority and majority children live in different geographical areas, Fs (1,222) = 11.04, p < .001,
η2 = .04. Specifically, Romanians from Moldavia have lower levels of achievement compared to
their Hungarian peers from Banat. In addition, we found a significant main effect of geographical
region on children’s achievement, F (1,267) = 4.82, p = .02, η2 = .01. Majority children from
Moldavia had lower levels of academic achievement compared to their majority peers from
Banat.
Associations between children’s goal orientations and achievement
Table 1 presents the zero-order correlations among children’s goal orientations and
academic achievement on the entire sample. Associations were generally modest in magnitude,
ranging between .07 and .25 and showed that children who reported a high level of mastery goals
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 15
but a low level of performance avoidance goals had higher academic achievement. These results
did not change significantly when controlling for the gender.
When patterns of associations were examined for each ethnic and regional group, the
findings were similar (see Table 2). In each ethnic and regional group the performance avoidance
goals were negatively associated with achievement, while mastery goals were positively related
to achievement for both ethnic samples from Banat but not for majority children from Moldavia.
In addition, the performance approach was related to achievement only for the majority ethnic
group from Banat. These results did not change significantly when controlling for the gender.
Variance in child academic achievement explained by goal orientations and ethnic or/and
geographical region
To examine how much variance in child academic achievement on the entire sample is
explained by the goal orientations we conducted a regression analyses. The results indicate that,
after controlling for gender, goal orientations altogether explained a significant variance in the
children’s academic achievement (ΔR2 = .41, F (4, 356) = 15.60, p < .01), both mastery and
performance avoidance goals being significant predictors of achievement.
Cultural differences in the relations between children’s goal orientations and achievement
We conducted an exploratory analysis to investigate whether there were ethnic and
regional differences in the associations between children’s goal orientations and academic
achievement. The patterns of correlations between goals and the children’s academic
achievement presented in Table 2 were not significantly different for Romanians from Banat,
Hungarians from Banat and Romanians from Moldavia (all Zs < 1.96, ps > .05).
Discussion
Our study investigated how ethnic membership and geographical region relate to
children’s academic achievement and goal orientations. Further, the study explored whether there
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 16
are ethnic or regional differences in how the goal orientations are associated with children’s
academic achievement. This study adds to the literature by using a cross-cultural approach and
exploring whether there are ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal orientations and
their academic achievement. Further, the study enhanced the literature by evaluating the relations
between goal orientations and children’s academic achievement and whether these relations differ
as a function of ethnic and geographical region.
The findings revealed ethnic differences in children’s academic achievement between
majority and minority children only when the geographical region was considered. Specifically,
minority children had higher levels of academic achievement compared to their majority peers
living in another geographical region but not compared to majority peers from the same
geographical area. These results are consistent with previous research conducted on ethnic groups
from Western countries showing that differences in children’s achievement between majority and
minority ethnicities depend on the country’s geographical areas where the studies have been
carried out (Belfi et al., 2014; Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000; Sammons,
1995). Further, the results also confirm previous studies conducted in the Romanian context
indicating no ethnic differences in academic achievement between majority and Hungarian
minority children from Transylvania, a central geographical region within country (Bernath &
Hatos, 2009; Wagner, 2012). Finally, we found regional differences in the children’s
achievement; the majority children from Banat had a higher level of achievement compared to
those from Moldavia. These results complement previous findings indicating that the
geographical region needs to be considered when ethnic differences between majority children
and minority are explored (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000). Taken
together, these results revealed that majority children are more similar to their minority peers who
live in the same region, than with their majority peers who live in another region. These findings
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 17
are consistent with previous literature indicating that there are more attitudes and value
similarities among adults who live in the same area (Banat), even if they are members of different
ethnic groups, than individuals who live in other geographical areas, including Moldavia
(Gavreliuc, 2011).
The results showed that both minority and majority children, regardless the geographical
region, reported similar levels of mastery goals. These findings are in line with previous studies
showing no ethnic differences between Hungarian minority children and their majority peers
(Pasztor, 2006; Wagner, 2012). One explanation for these findings could be that in this study the
family’s socioeconomic status was similar across ethnic groups (Dekker & Fischer, 2008).
Further, we found ethnic differences in children’s performance goals. Specifically, we
found that minority children reported higher levels of performance avoidance goals compared to
their majority peers from the same geographical region (Banat) and higher levels of performance
approach goals compared to their majority peers from another area (Moldavia). These results are
in line with previous studies indicating that the majority Western adolescents reported lower
levels of performance goals compared to their minority peers (Rueda et al., 2010; Witkow &
Fuligni, 2007). Further, the findings confirm previous studies conducted in other region of
Romania (i.e., Transylvania) showing that Hungarian minority children reported higher levels of
performance-avoidance goals compared to their majority peers (Pasztor, 2006). These results
could be explained by tendency of Hungarian children to use more the self-protective
mechanisms, like handicapping strategies, which in turn may determine higher levels of
performance goals (Wagner, 2012).
Regarding the association between goal orientations and academic achievement, the
results showed that children who reported higher levels of mastery goals had higher levels of
academic achievement, while those who reported higher levels of performance avoidance goals
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 18
had lower levels of achievement across all ethnic and regional samples. These findings are
consistent with previous literature showing that mastery goals, compared to performance
avoidance goals, are associated with higher levels of academic achievement (Dinger et al., 2013;
Keys et al., 2012; Middleton & Midgley, 1997). In addition, we added to the literature by
showing that the relations of goal orientations with achievement do not vary based on the ethnic
and regional contexts. Further, the associations are similar even when it comes to considering the
geographical regions within the country where the ethnic samples live. Future studies should
investigate whether these results regarding the relation between goal orientations and
achievement generalize to other ethnic or geographical regions from other East European
countries.
Although this study represents a step toward the study of ethnic and regional differences
in children’s goal orientations and academic achievement, several limitations should be noted.
First, our study focused on the one dimension of achievement, the children’s grades, however, the
academic achievement is a broader construct, and future studies should address these relations in
regard to other indexes of academic achievement, such as national assessments. Second, our
results are correlational and do not lend themselves to any causal interpretations. Using a
longitudinal design would allow one to determine the direction of the effects of the associations
between goals and achievement. For example, it is likely that a child’s level of academic
achievement may trigger achievement goals that are consistent with mastery goals. Finally, while
a child’s perspective on their goal orientations provides valuable information, future studies
should rely on a multiple informant approach that (i.e. parents and teachers) may capture
characteristics of a learning environment, such as an ethnic school structure or classroom goal
orientations.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 19
Despite these limitations, these current findings offer an integrative perspective toward
understanding new and important sources of children’s achievement. We found that majority and
minority children from the same geographical region have similar levels of academic
achievement, but both of these ethnic samples had higher levels of achievement than majority
children who live in another geographical region characterized by low levels of human
developmental index. This study showed that the relations between goal orientations and
academic achievement are similar and important across all ethnic and regional contexts
investigated in this study.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 20
Table 1
Zero-order associations among main study variables
M SD Range 1 2 3 4
1. Performance approach goals 3.24 .96 1 - 5 .23** .36** .08
2. Performance avoidance goals 2.35 .92 1 - 4.75 .23** .02 -.24**
3. Mastery goals 3.52 .93 1 - 5 .36** .01 .20**
4. Achievement 7.68 1.44 4.29 - 10 .07 -.25** .21**
Note: N = 361; upper right – zero-order associations; lower left – partial correlations controlling
for the child’s gender.
* p < .05. ** p < .01.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 21
Table 2
Zero-order associations among the main study variables for each ethnic and /or regional sample
Mean SD 1 2 3 4
Romanian majority group from
Banat
1. Performance approach goals 3.16c .98 .28** .37** .20*
2. Performance avoidance goals 2.20a,c .92 .28** .13 -.24**
3. Mastery goals 3.51 .92 .36** .13 .24**
4. Achievement 7.75c 1.46 .20* -.23** .25**
Minority Hungarian group from
Banat
1. Performance approach goals 2.99b .90 .32** .30** .02
2. Performance avoidance goals 2.56a .90 .33** -.06 -.37**
3. Mastery goals 3.34 .96 .29** -.07 .32**
4. Achievement 7.93b 1.46 -.01 -.38** .33**
Romanian majority group from
Moldavia
1. Performance approach goals 3.53b,c .93 .14 .36** .12
2. Performance avoidance goals 2.35c .89 .15† -.005 -.17†
3. Mastery goals 3.68 .90 .35** -.03 .11
4. Achievement 7.41b,c 1.37 .10 -.22* .14
Note: Romanian ethnic group from Banat n = 138, Hungarian ethnic group from Banat n = 99;
Romanian ethnic group from Moldavia n = 124; upper right – zero-order associations; lower left
– partial correlations controlling for the child’s gender.
a – significant difference between Romanian and Hungarian samples from Banat, b – significant
difference between the Romanian sample from Moldavia and the Hungarian sample from Banat,
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 22
c – significant difference between Romanian sample from Banat and Romanian sample from
Moldavia.
* p < .05. ** p < .01. † p = .088.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 23
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