Adaptability, personal best (PB) goals setting, and gains in students’ academic outcomes: A longitudinal examination from a social cognitive perspective
Introduction
The triadic model is proposed under social cognitive theory (SCT; Bandura, 1986) to explain the factors that influence human agency. This model examines the interactions among environmental (e.g., social support), personal (e.g., self-factors and self-strategies), and behavioral (e.g., academic outcomes) factors that shape human functioning. Although past investigations of human agency using the triadic model have emphasized self-efficacy (e.g., Bandura, 1991, Bandura, 2006), the model also articulates the importance of self-regulation and goal setting (Bandura, 1991). Importantly, recent research has shed new light on these two constructs that may hold renewed relevance to SCT and its conceptual elements (e.g., Martin, 2006, Martin et al., 2012, Martin et al., 2013). Accordingly, harnessing the triadic model (Bandura, 1986, Bandura, 2001), the present investigation explores how adaptability (a recently proposed construct under the self-regulation umbrella; e.g., Martin et al., 2012, Martin et al., 2013) and personal best (PB) goal setting (a recently proposed construct under the goal setting umbrella; e.g., Martin & Liem, 2010) impact gains in students’ academic engagement and achievement. Adaptability is a specific form of self-regulation regarding students’ ability to psycho-behaviorally adjust in the face of change, novelty, or uncertainty (Martin et al., 2012, Martin et al., 2013). PB goal setting represents a growth-oriented and self-referenced approach to goal setting (Martin & Elliot, 2016a).
As new psycho-educational constructs (such as adaptability and PB goal setting) are identified, there can be yields in revisiting classic models to ascertain the role of novel constructs in seminal conceptualizing. Indeed, given the demonstrated predictive validity of the triadic model in high school populations (the student population of interest for this investigation; Alliman-Brissett et al., 2004, Bong, 2001, Bong, 2004, Zimmerman et al., 1992) and the well-documented motivational decline in high school students (e.g.,Abbott-Chapman et al., 2014, Cooper, 2013, Wang and Eccles, 2012, Wigfield, 1994; see also Lepper, Corpus, & Iyengar, 2005 for evidence of even earlier declines), there are empirical grounds to examine how two recent motivational constructs may function within this theoretical space and population. As such, this investigation provides an opportunity to examine how adaptability and PB goal setting impact high school students’ academic outcomes, as well as augment current understanding of the triadic model in this population.
Following cross-sectional work by Burns, Martin, and Collie (2017) and drawing on Bandura’s (1986) triadic framework, we examine a process by which: social support from parents, peers, and teachers (environmental factors) predict students’ self-efficacy, perceived control, adaptability (“self-factors” within personal factors), and PB goal setting (“self-strategies” within personal factors); self-efficacy, perceived control, and adaptability also predict PB goal setting; and, PB goal setting predicts academic engagement and achievement (behavioral factors). Fig. 1 demonstrates. Extending prior research (Burns et al., 2017), we employed a longitudinal approach that enables us to more clearly ascertain the unique role of adaptability and PB goal setting in predicting gains in students’ academic engagement and achievement. Indeed, because SCT argues that the comparative influence of each factor must be examined over time (Bandura, 1986), the present longitudinal investigation further adds to current understanding of the triadic process.
Section snippets
Adaptability: Definition and development
Adaptability refers to one’s capacity to cognitively, behaviorally, and emotionally self-regulate in response to changing, novel, or uncertain circumstances (Martin et al., 2012, Martin et al., 2013). This is referred to as the tripartite (cognition, behavior, emotion) perspective of adaptability. A student’s ability to effectively manage their response to change, novelty, and uncertainty is critical for managing and engaging with academic demands. Adaptability is considered especially relevant
SCT and a proposed longitudinal model
SCT utilizes the triadic model to argue that there are three central factors that impact human functioning: environmental, personal, and behavioral (Bandura, 1986). Following well-established operationalizing and ordering of the triadic model (e.g., Alliman-Brissett et al., 2004, Zimmerman et al., 1992), environmental factors are examined by way of parent, peer, and teacher social support in the current investigation. Personal factors comprise “self-factors” and “self-strategies”. Self-factors
Overview of present investigation
Utilizing a longitudinal design to examine the relationships theorized under the triadic model of SCT, the present study examines (1) how two novel constructs, adaptability and PB goal setting, function alongside the well-established SCT constructs in the triadic model (viz. social support, self-efficacy, perceived control), and (2) the unique impact of these factors, especially adaptability and PB goal setting, on shifts in students’ academic outcomes by way of engagement and achievement. The
Participants and Sampling
Data were collected across two consecutive academic years (once in 2014 and once in 2015) from nine Australian high schools. The schools in the sample were local catholic or private schools across New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia. These schools were chosen based on the second author’s professional networks in the education community and aimed at capturing a nationally generalizable sample. The longitudinal sample (N = 1481) comprised students who were present at both data
Descriptive and psychometric analyses
The descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviations, skew, kurtosis), reliabilities (Cronbach’s α), and factor loadings for multi-item factors are reported in Table 1. The statistics for skewness and kurtosis indicate that each factor demonstrated approximately normal distribution. The reliability scores, as based on a Cronbach’s α greater than 0.65 (Anastasi and Urbina, 1997, Sattler, 2001), demonstrate the internal consistency of all factors. The factor loadings for each multi-item
Discussion
As informed by the triadic model of SCT, this longitudinal investigation examined the role of adaptability and PB goal setting in shifts (gains or declines) in students’ academic outcomes. The findings largely supported the hypothesized model. Major findings and their implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed in turn.
Conclusion
As new psycho-educational constructs are identified, there can be yields in revisiting classic theories to ascertain the role of these new constructs in seminal conceptualizing. The present investigation examined how two such constructs, adaptability and PB goal setting, operated alongside more “traditional” constructs in SCT’s triadic model. Findings demonstrated the positive impact of adaptability and PB goal setting on gains in students’ academic outcomes. They have also added to the growing
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr. Marianne Mansour for assisting with data collection.
Funding
This study was funded by the Australian Research Council (Grant #DP140104294).
References (106)
- et al.
Student engagement and its relationship with early high school dropout
Journal of Adolescence
(2009) Social cognitive theory of self-regulation
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
(1991)- et al.
Assessment of factors affecting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: Evidence from the scientific literature
Journal of Adolescent Health
(2003) - et al.
Self-regulation, motivation, and math achievement in middle school: Variations across grade level and math context
Journal of School Psychology
(2009) - et al.
Students’ adaptability in mathematics: Examining self-reports and teachers’ reports and links with engagement and achievement outcomes
Contemporary Educational Psychology
(2017) - et al.
Students' interpersonal relationships, personal best (PB) goals, and academic engagement
Learning and Individual Differences
(2016) - et al.
Perceived learning environment and students’ emotional experiences: A multilevel analysis of mathematics classrooms
Learning and Instruction
(2007) - et al.
Academic motivation, self-concept, engagement, and performance in high school: Key processes from a longitudinal perspective
Journal of Adolescence
(2012) Predicting performance in first-semester college basic writers: Revisiting the role of self-beliefs
Contemporary Educational Psychology
(2008)- et al.
Personal best goals and academic and social functioning: A longitudinal perspective
Learning and Instruction
(2012)
The role of personal best (PB) goal setting in students’ academic achievement gains
Learning and Individual Differences
Academic personal bests (PBs), engagement, and achievement: A cross-lagged panel analysis
Learning and Individual Differences
Academic buoyancy: Towards an understanding of students’ everyday academic resilience
Journal of School Psychology
Goals and perceived ability: Impact on student valuing, self-regulation, and persistence
Contemporary Educational Psychology
The role of implicit theories of intelligence and ability in predicting achievement for Indigenous (Aboriginal) Australian students
Contemporary Educational Psychology
The longitudinal association of childhood school engagement with adult educational and occupational achievement: Findings from an Australian national study
British Educational Research Journal
Parent support and African American adolescents’ career self-efficacy
Professional School Counseling
Psychological testing
Full information estimation in the presence of incomplete data
Interpreting NAPLAN results: Fact sheet
ADHD and adaptability: The roles of cognitive, behavioural, and emotional regulation
Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Understanding the role of adaptability and personal best(PB) goals in students’ academic outcomes: A social cognitive perspective
BJEPMonograph Series II
Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline
Developmental Psychology
Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory
Self-efficacy: The exercise of control
Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective
Annual Review of Psychology
Toward a psychology of human agency
Perspectives on Psychological Science
Negative self-efficacy and goal effects revisited
Journal of Applied Psychology
Effect of perceived controllability and performance standards on self-regulation of complex decision-making
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Investigating the multidimensionality of engagement: Affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement across science activities and contexts
Contemporary Educational Psychology
The effects of instructors’ autonomy support and students’ autonomous motivation on learning organic chemistry: A self-determination theory perspective
Science Education
Direct and indirect effects: Classical and bootstrap estimates of variability
Sociological Methodology
Generality of academic self-efficacy judgments: Evidence of hierarchical relations
Journal of Educational Psychology
Between- and within-domain relations of academic motivation among middle and high school students: Self-efficacy, task value, and achievement goals
Journal of Educational Psychology
Academic motivation in self-efficacy, task value, achievement goal orientations, and attributional beliefs
The Journal of Educational Research
Principal-components analysis and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis
Sensitivity of goodness of fit indices to lack of measurement invariance
Structural Equation Modeling
Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance
Structural Equation Modeling
Estimates and tests in structural equation modeling
Introduction: An overview of applications of self-regulated learning
Adaptability, engagement and academic achievement at university
Educational Psychology
Friendship influences during early adolescence: The special role of friends’ grade point average
Journal of Research on Adolescence
Eliciting engagement in the high school classroom: Amixed-methods examination of teaching practices
American Educational Research Journal
A motivated action theory account of goal orientation
Journal of Applied Psychology
A path analysis of basic need support, self-efficacy, achievement goals, life satisfaction and academic achievement level among secondary school students
Educational Psychology
A conceptual history of the achievement goal construct
A 3 × 2 achievement goal model
Journal of Educational Psychology
School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of evidence
Review of Educational Research
Parent styles associated with children’s self-regulation and competence in school
Journal of Educational Psychology
Cited by (77)
Perceived autonomy support as a predictor of rural students’ academic buoyancy and academic self-efficacy
2024, Teaching and Teacher EducationThe role of teaching support in assisting students' transition to high school
2024, Learning and Individual DifferencesAdaptability vs. buoyancy: Which offers the greater protection against test anxiety and could relations be reciprocal?
2023, Learning and Individual DifferencesCitation Excerpt :Students able to adapt these changing circumstances more effectively are at an advantage. Indeed, higher adaptability has been shown to predict favourable achievement-related behaviours, cognitions, and emotions, including greater school engagement, participation in lessons, valuing of school, mastery orientation, and setting of personal goals, alongside lower instances of misconduct and academic self-handicapping (Burns et al., 2018; Collie & Martin, 2017; Martin et al., 2016; Martin, Nejad, et al., 2013; Putwain et al., 2020). Academic buoyancy and adaptability present two adaptive psychological attributes to assist students flourishing at school.
The role of engagement in immigrant students’ academic resilience
2022, Learning and InstructionCitation Excerpt :It refers to students' cognitive and attitudinal investment in their learning (Fredricks et al., 2004) that includes future-oriented cognitive representations such as educational aspirations, expectations, etc. (Martin, 2021). In the present study, and consistent with Burns et al. (2018) and Bostwick et al. (2020), we operationalize cognitive engagement by way of academic expectations. Behavioral engagement draws on concepts relevant to involvement and participation (Fredricks et al., 2004; Martin, 2021; Martin et al., 2021).
Performance-based assessment in virtual versus non-virtual classes: impacts on academic resilience, motivation, teacher support, and personal best goals
2024, Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education