Approach Goal Orientations in North African French Adolescents: The Longitudinal Effects of Ethnic Identity and Valuing of School

Abstract

Research has suggested mixed results regarding the relations between dimensions of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) and academic outcomes. Furthermore, little scholarship has explored the mechanisms that underlie these relations. In the current study, we investigated the longitudinal relations of 2 dimensions of ERI (embedded achievement, and ethnic affirmation and belonging) with achievement approach goal orientations, and we tested whether these relations were mediated by valuing of school among North African French middle school students (N = 336). Adolescents completed surveys annually during the last 3 years of French middle school (Grades 7, 8, and 9). Results of path analyses indicated positive direct effects of Grade 7 embedded achievement on Grade 9 performance-approach goals. Grade 7 ethnic affirmation/belonging negatively predicted Grade 9 performance approach goals. The anticipated indirect effects of Grade 7 embedded achievement and affirmation/belonging on performance and masteryapproach goals via students’ Grade 8 reports of valuing of school were nonsignificant. These results clarify ways in which aspects of ERI might have different relations with achievement striving among ethnic/racial minority youth, thereby enriching theorizing vis-a-vis ERI and academic motivation in an understudied population in psychological and educational science.