Homework Purposes in Eighth Grade Students: Identifying Student Profiles and Their Relationship with Homework Effort, Completion, and Achievement

Abstract

Background: The main objective of the research was (1) to identify different profiles of students based on three purposes they had for homework (academic, self-regulatory and approval-seeking) and (2) to analyze their relationship with the homework effort, completion, and math achievement. Method: The study involved 3,018 eighth-grade students from various areas in China. Data were analyzed with Mplus using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA). Results: As hypothesized, four different profiles were identified: High Profile (high in all purposes; 13.39%), Moderate Profile (moderate in all purposes; 56.63%), Low Profile (low in all purposes; 26.04%), and Very Low Profile (very low in all purposes; 3.94%). Belonging to a certain profile was related to the homework effort, completion, and math achievement: the higher the purposes, the greater the homework effort, completion, and higher math performance. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest certain similarities and consistency between individual groups (similar profiles) at different ages (i.e., eighth and eleventh graders). Belonging to one or the other profile may have different consequences or implications both for the student’s behavior (for example, in terms of their involvement in homework and academic achievement) and for the educational practice of teachers and families.