Mathematics identity, self-efficacy, and interest and their relationships to mathematics achievement: A longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Using the overlap sample of about 3500 students who participated in both the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 and the 2013 grade 12 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment, this study investigates the relationships of mathematics identity, efficacy and interest to mathematics achievement in high school. Role identities, such as having amathematics identity, as well as mathematics efficacy and interest are hypothesized to be important motivators of role-related behavior. Using a structural equation modeling approach, measures of these constructs at grades 9 and 11 are related to grade 12 NAEP mathematics achievement, simultaneously taking into account grade 9 mathematics achievement, high school mathematics coursetaking, educational expectations at grades 9 and 11 and student and school background factors. The results indicate that a mathematics identity and educational expectations at grade 11 are statistically and substantively significant predictors of grade 12 mathematics achievement in the presence of these other factors, whereas neither of the other two motivation factors-grade 11 mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics interest-were shown to have direct effects on grade 12 mathematics achievement. However, mathematics self-efficacy at grade 9 was shown to have an indirect effect on grade 12 mathematics achievement through grade 11 mathematics identity. The implications of these findings for identity theory are discussed.