Abstract
The Motivation for Educational Attainment (MEA) questionnaire, developed to assess facets related to early adolescents’ motivation to complete high school, has a bifactor structure with a large general factor and three smaller orthogonal specific factors (teacher expectations, peer aspirations, value of education). This prospective validity study investigated the utility of each factor in predicting high school dropout or completion of a general education development (GED) certificate versus completion of a high school degree. Participants were 474 (55.1% male) ethnically diverse students who were originally recruited into a larger longitudinal study in Grade 1 on the basis of academic risk. Fourteen years later, 373 had obtained a high school diploma, 15 had obtained a GED, and 86 had dropped out of high school. During their first year of Grade 9, participants were administered the MEA. Using multinomial logistic regression with high school graduation as the reference outcome and controlling for Grade 9 letter grades, reading and math test scores, gender, and ethnic/racial group status, scores on the latent general factor and the latent peer aspirations factor predicted high school dropout versus high school graduation status. Neither the general factor nor any of the three specific factors predicted GED completion versus high school graduation. Ethnicity, but not gender, moderated the associations between scores on the general factor and high school graduation versus dropout.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Keywords
- adolescents
- dropout
- educational motivation
- ethnicity
- high school completion
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
Cite this
Motivation for Educational Attainment in Grade 9 Predicts High School Completion. / West, Stephen; Hughes, Jan N.; Kim, Han Joe; Bauer, Shelby S.
In: Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 01.01.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Motivation for Educational Attainment in Grade 9 Predicts High School Completion
AU - West, Stephen
AU - Hughes, Jan N.
AU - Kim, Han Joe
AU - Bauer, Shelby S.
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - The Motivation for Educational Attainment (MEA) questionnaire, developed to assess facets related to early adolescents’ motivation to complete high school, has a bifactor structure with a large general factor and three smaller orthogonal specific factors (teacher expectations, peer aspirations, value of education). This prospective validity study investigated the utility of each factor in predicting high school dropout or completion of a general education development (GED) certificate versus completion of a high school degree. Participants were 474 (55.1% male) ethnically diverse students who were originally recruited into a larger longitudinal study in Grade 1 on the basis of academic risk. Fourteen years later, 373 had obtained a high school diploma, 15 had obtained a GED, and 86 had dropped out of high school. During their first year of Grade 9, participants were administered the MEA. Using multinomial logistic regression with high school graduation as the reference outcome and controlling for Grade 9 letter grades, reading and math test scores, gender, and ethnic/racial group status, scores on the latent general factor and the latent peer aspirations factor predicted high school dropout versus high school graduation status. Neither the general factor nor any of the three specific factors predicted GED completion versus high school graduation. Ethnicity, but not gender, moderated the associations between scores on the general factor and high school graduation versus dropout.
AB - The Motivation for Educational Attainment (MEA) questionnaire, developed to assess facets related to early adolescents’ motivation to complete high school, has a bifactor structure with a large general factor and three smaller orthogonal specific factors (teacher expectations, peer aspirations, value of education). This prospective validity study investigated the utility of each factor in predicting high school dropout or completion of a general education development (GED) certificate versus completion of a high school degree. Participants were 474 (55.1% male) ethnically diverse students who were originally recruited into a larger longitudinal study in Grade 1 on the basis of academic risk. Fourteen years later, 373 had obtained a high school diploma, 15 had obtained a GED, and 86 had dropped out of high school. During their first year of Grade 9, participants were administered the MEA. Using multinomial logistic regression with high school graduation as the reference outcome and controlling for Grade 9 letter grades, reading and math test scores, gender, and ethnic/racial group status, scores on the latent general factor and the latent peer aspirations factor predicted high school dropout versus high school graduation status. Neither the general factor nor any of the three specific factors predicted GED completion versus high school graduation. Ethnicity, but not gender, moderated the associations between scores on the general factor and high school graduation versus dropout.
KW - adolescents
KW - dropout
KW - educational motivation
KW - ethnicity
KW - high school completion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060784354&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85060784354&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/emip.12244
DO - 10.1111/emip.12244
M3 - Article
JO - Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice
JF - Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice
SN - 0731-1745
ER -