Cultura y Educación

Children's academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membershipmatter?

--Manuscript Draft--

Full Title: Children's academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membershipmatter?

Manuscript Number: RCYE-2016-0120

Order of Authors: Loredana Diaconu-Gherasim

Luminita M. Iacob

Alin Gavreliuc

Article Type: Research Paper

Keywords: academic achievement; goal orientations; majority group, minority ethnic group;geographical region.

Abstract: This study explored how ethnic membership relates to children's academicachievement and goal orientations and whether there are ethnic differences in howgoal orientations are linked to academic achievement. Further, we investigatedwhether these relations vary based on the geographical region were ethnic groups live.The sample included 361 children (179 girls), age 12 to 15 years, from two regions inRomania, Banat (n = 237) and Moldavia (n = 124). Ethnic differences were found ingoal orientations between majority and minority children from both the same anddifferent geographical regions, whereas differences in academic achievement werefound only between ethnic groups who live in different areas. The strength of theassociations between goals and academic achievement were not significantly differentbased on ethnic and regional background. The findings show that there are ethnic andregional differences in children's achievement and goal orientations, however therelations among academic achievement and goal orientations are similar across theanalyzed ethnic and regional groups.

Funding Information: CNCSIS-UEFISCDI(849)

Dr. Loredana Diaconu-Gherasim

Additional Information:

Question Response

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Running head: ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 1

Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membership matter?

Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim, Luminita M. Iacob and Alin Gavreliuc

Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Department of Psychology, 3

Toma Cozma, Iasi Romania 700554, Tel. +40 232 201293, gloreda@uaic.ro

Luminita M. Iacob, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Department of Psychology, 3 Toma

Cozma, Iasi Romania 700554, Tel. +40 232 203015, lgim53@yahoo.com

Alin Gavreliuc, West University of Timisoara, Department of Psychology, 4 Vasile Pârvan

Timisoara, Romania, 300223, Tel. +40 256 592320 alin.gavreliuc@socio.uvt.ro

Corresponding author:

Loredana R. Diaconu-Gherasim, Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 3

Toma Cozma, Iasi Romania 700554

Email: gloreda@uaic.ro

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the CNCSIS-UEFISCDI, under Grant number 849, PNII_IDEI

2026/2008.

Manuscript - with author details (Manuscrito - con detalles de autor)

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 2

Abstract

This study explored how ethnic membership relates to children’s academic achievement

and goal orientations and whether there are ethnic differences in how goal orientations are linked

to academic achievement. Further, we investigated whether these relations vary based on the

geographical region were ethnic groups live. The sample included 361 children (179 girls), age

12 to 15 years, from two regions in Romania, Banat (n = 237) and Moldavia (n = 124). Ethnic

differences were found in goal orientations between majority and minority children from both the

same and different geographical regions, whereas differences in academic achievement were

found only between ethnic groups who live in different areas. The strength of the associations

between goals and academic achievement were not significantly different based on ethnic and

regional background. The findings show that there are ethnic and regional differences in

children’s achievement and goal orientations, however the relations among academic

achievement and goal orientations are similar across the analysed ethnic and regional groups.

Keywords: academic achievement; goal orientations; majority group, minority ethnic group;

geographical region

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 3

Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membership matter?

Academic achievement has been operationalised in many ways, including scores on

international and national standardized tests or specific school grades (Mark, 2014; Jæger, 2011).

Regardless of the measuring technique, academic achievement is a robust predictor of

adolescents’ future professional career opportunities or attainment of socioeconomic status in

adulthood (see De Witte, Cabus, Thyssen, Groot, & van den Brink, 2014 for a review). Given the

importance of academic achievement in children’s long term adjustment to their future

professional and social accomplishment, much effort has to be devoted on identifying the

psychological factors related to achievement, such as goal orientations. In addition to

psychological factor, cultural contexts, including ethnic membership (see Dekker & Fischer,

2008 for a review) and geographical areas (e.g., Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn &

Mirza, 2000), may shape children’s academic achievement and goal orientations, however, few

studies have investigated the relations among these factors and academic achievement and goal

orientations. The first purpose of our study was to investigate how ethnic membership relates to

children’s academic achievement and goal orientations. The second purpose of our study is to

explore whether these relations might vary based on geographic region where the ethnic groups

live (the same vs. different geographical regions within the country).

Academic achievement and ethnicity

Earlier literature on the relation between culture and academic achievement has provided

evidence of differences in test scores, school grades, high school completion rates or college

attainment between majority students and their ethnic minority peers in Western countries.

Specifically, studies have shown that a majority of European American children have had lower

levels of academic achievement compared to Asian American (i.e. Chinese Americans) minority

groups (see Warikoo & Carter, 2009 for a review) but have higher achievement than other

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 4

minority ethnic groups, including African American and Hispanic minority children (Alon &

Tienda, 2007; Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010). Recent studies have shown reverse ethnic

disparities, African American and Hispanic students performing better on standardized tests than

their majority high school classmates (Letcher & Tienda, 2010). When ethnic differences in

children’s academic achievement were explored across Western European countries (e.g., United

Kingdom and Belgium), mixed findings were reported. Some studies reported that White British

majority children performed better than other ethnic groups (i.e. White European and African) on

national tests except the Indian and Chinese minority groups (Khattab, 2015; Rothon, 2007).

Other studies found that White British children performed better on national tests that their Asian

peers (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Frumkin, 2013). Finally, other studies showed that both

White British and Belgian majority children had similar test scores with both East European and

African minority children (Belfi et al., 2014; Sammons, 1995; Shah, Dwyer, & Modood, 2010).

Relying on previous studies indicating regional differences in academic achievement (i.e.,

national tests) of Western children who live in different geographical areas within the same

country (e.g., Australia) or in different metropolitan (e.g., Melbourne and Wyndham) regions

(Caro, Cortina, & Eccles, 2015; Marks, 2014), it was suggested that geographical areas might

explain the inconsistent findings regarding ethnic differences in achievement. However, few

studies have explored how geographical region is related to children’s academic achievement and

ethnic membership. The results showed that although, overall the majority groups (i.e. White

British children) performed better on national tests than other ethnic minority groups (e.g.

African or Asian minority children), there were geographical areas within country where each of

ethnic minority group performed better than majority group (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008;

Gillborn & Mirza, 2000; Sammons, 1995). Differences in socio-economic family status,

including social class, parental education or family income may explain regional differences in

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 5

achievement between majority and minority children from Western countries (Mark, 2014;

Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010; Rueda et al., 2010; Sammons, 1995).

Studies investigating how ethnic membership relates to academic achievement across

Eastern European countries are relatively rare. It is important to note that East European societies

have the experience of communist regimes that structured their living conditions, including

education, in terms of decreasing the family interest in children’s education (Schwartz & Bardi,

1997). For example, studies conducted in Romania compared the majority with Hungarian

minority children, the largest minority group from this country (representing 6.60% of the total

population), and the findings provided an ambiguous picture of differences in children’s

achievement. Specifically, some studies have indicated that the Hungarian minority group had

lower levels of achievement compared to their majority peers (Bernath & Hatos, 2009; Csata,

2004; Hatos, 2011), while others reported opposite results, showing that Hungarian minority

children performed better in school than do their majority peers (Pasztor, 2006). Finally, other

studies have revealed no ethnic differences on academic achievement between these ethnic

groups (Wagner, 2012). Overall, little is known regarding the ethnic differences in children’s

academic achievement from Romania. To advance the literature, we evaluated whether there are

differences in children’s achievement between majority and Hungarian minority ethnic groups

from Romania. Based on previous literature, we expected that majority children would have

higher levels of achievement compared to their minority ethnic peers.

Further, the existing studies exploring the ethnic differences in children’s academic

achievement between Romanian and Hungarian children samples were conducted in Western

regions of Romania, particularly Transylvania (Bernath & Hatos, 2009; Csata, 2004; Hatos,

2011). These findings leave open the question whether ethnic differences in children’s academic

achievement are similar in other geographical regions within the country, such as Banat and

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 6

Moldavia. In this study we evaluated ethnic differences in children’s achievement between

majority and minority samples from two other geographical regions within the country -

Moldavia and Banat. The Moldavia is the Eastern region of Romania characterized by a low

socio-economic status and low density of minority groups (Voicu & Voicu, 2007). In this region

the proportion of Hungarian minority group is insignificant, representing less than 0.5% of the

population (Ghetau, 2012), so we could not include a sample of Hungarian minority children

from Moldavia. Banat, is the Western region of the country and is characterized by multi-

ethnicity as well as a higher socioeconomic homogeneity (Ghetau, 2012; Voicu & Voicu, 2007)..

Based on these findings, we expected that the majority children from Moldavia would have lower

levels of academic achievement than their peers from Banat.

Goal orientations and ethnicity

Goal orientations, defined as cognitive-motivational purposes for engagement in different

situations, are important antecedents to students’ cognition, affect and behaviour in achievement

situations (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). This present study draws on the trichotomous achievement

goal model (Elliot & Church, 1997) that distinguishes among three different achievement goals:

mastery goals - focused toward mastering content, learning and developing the competencies,

performance approach goals - orientated to demonstrate one’s competences and performance

relative to others and performance avoidance goals - focused on preventing failures and avoiding

normative incompetence. Previous studies conducted predominantly with participants from

Western countries (e.g., United States or Germany), confirmed that achievement goals are

captured by the trichotomous goal model (see Wirthwein, Sparfeldt, Pinquart, Wegerer, &

Steinmayr, 2013 for an extensive review).

However the theory is well-known, little studies have been carried out to study the goal

orientations cross-culturally. Specifically, studies conducted on adults from Western countries

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 7

(e.g., United States and Canada) and the findings showed that Asian American college students

were more performance avoidance orientated than their European American counterparts,

although they did not differ in terms of both mastery and performance approach goals (e.g.,

Elliot, Chirkov, Kim, & Sheldon, 2001). Fewer studies explored ethnic differences in goal

orientations on adolescent samples, and the results indicated that Asian American adolescents

reported higher levels of both performance approach and avoidance goals compared to their

Latino and European American peers (Witkow & Fuligni, 2007).The socio-economic level of the

ethnic group and the parents’ long-term socialization goals might explain why the meaning and

the implications of specific goal orientations vary based on ethnic group membership (Khattab,

2015; Modood, 2004).

Although previous literature investigated the goal orientations in East European countries

(e.g., Gherasim, Butnaru & Mairean, 2013; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009), studies comparing

achievement related goals based on ethnic membership within these countries are limited. The

studies conducted on Romanian samples, revealed that Hungarian minority children reported

similar level of mastery goals with the Romanian majority peers, whereas the Hungarian children

reported more performance avoidance goals than did majority children (Pasztor, 2006; Wagner,

2012). These findings were explained by the tendency of Hungarian minority children to focus

more on learning activities than their majority peers and to report more self-protective

mechanisms, such as higher levels of anxiety (Wagner, 2012). To advance the literature, we

evaluated whether there are ethnic differences in children’s goal orientations between the

majority and Hungarian minority groups from Romania. We expected that Romanian children

would have lower levels of performance avoidance and approach goals compared to their

Hungarian minority peers, but no differences on mastery goals between majority and minority

groups.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 8

In addition, previous literature review revealed that goal orientations are related to

societal levels of the human development index (see Dekker & Fischer, 2008 for a review). To

advance the literature, we evaluated whether there are ethnic differences in the levels of goal

orientations between majority and Hungarian minority samples living in geographical regions,

Banat and Moldavia. According to Dekker and Fischer (2008), we hypothesized that majority

children living in Moldavia, a geographical area with a low level of human development index

(Voicu & Voicu, 2007), have the tendency to adopt fewer mastery goals but more performance

goals, than both their majority and minority peers from Banat, a region with a higher index level

of human development.

Academic achievement, goal orientations, and ethnicity

Previous literature has shown that the achievement goal theory was employed to predict

and understand different children’s academic outcomes, including learning strategies, academic

engagement and social adjustment (see Wigfield & Cambria, 2010; Wirthwein et al., 2013 for

extensive reviews). Specifically, mastery goals are linked to deep cognitive strategies, adaptive

patterns of coping and positive emotions, performance approach goals have negative

consequences on learning strategies, achievement motivation and psychological well-being,

whereas performance avoidance goals were regularly linked to disinterest, negative emotions and

disorganized learning strategies.

A distinct set of studies focused on the achievement role of goal orientations on Western

samples (e.g., Western European countries and the United States; see Wirthwein et al., 2013 for

an extensive review). Overall the findings indicate that children who reported more mastery goals

had higher levels of academic achievement (e.g., Dinger, Dickhauser, Spinath, & Steinmayr,

2013). Regarding the achievement role of performance goals, mixed findings were reported.

Specifically, some studies reported that performance approach goals were positively related

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 9

children’s achievement while other studies found that these goals are unrelated to achievement

(e.g., Keys, Conley, Duncan, & Domina, 2012; Ku, Dittmar, & Banerjee, 2012). Further,

performance avoidance goals were negatively associated or unrelated to children’s academic

achievement (e.g., Keys et al., 2012; Ku et al., 2012).

Studies conducted on non-Western cultures have been relatively rare and limited to a few

cultural contexts. Positive associations of academic achievement with both mastery and

performance goals on East Asian samples (i.e. Chinese and Philippine) were reported (e.g. Liem,

Lau, & Nie, 2008). Studies conducted on East European countries (e. g., Romania and Slovakia)

indicated a similar positive impact of both mastery and performance approach goals on children’s

academic achievement, while performance avoidance goals were negatively related to their

achievement (Gherasim et al., 2013; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009).

Relatively rare are studies that have incorporated the examination of ethnic membership

and explored the relation between goal orientations and achievement. The studies conducted

primarily in Western countries (e.g. the United States) confirmed the achieving role of goals

according to the trichonomus model of goal orientations, however, the relations between

academic achievement and goals were inconsistent across different ethnic groups. Specifically,

some studies have found that mastery goals were related with middle school students’

achievement, while performance related goals did not link with achievement across White,

Hispanic and Vietnamese ethnic groups (Keys et al., 2012). Other studies have shown that

mastery goals predicted academic achievement across all middle and high school children

samples, whereas performance-avoidance goals negatively predicted achievement for British

students but not for Chinese students (Ku et al., 2012). Overall, little is known regarding the

ethnic differences in the relation between children’s goal orientations and academic achievement.

To advance in the literature, in this study we investigated the relation between goal orientations

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 10

and academic achievement and whether these relations differ based on ethnic membership.

Consistent with the context specificity hypothesis (Dekker and Fischer, 2008) we expected that

these relations would be different between majority and minority ethnic groups.

Finally, previous literature suggests that the geographical region may shape the relation

among achievement, goal orientations and ethnic membership (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008;

Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010; Rueda et al., 2010), but until now no study investigated these

relations. To add to the literature, in this study we explored whether the relations among ethnic

membership, achievement goal and orientations differ based on the geographical region.

According to the geographical region hypotheses (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Riegle-Crumb

& Grodsky, 2010), we expected the relations between mastery goals and academic achievement

to be stronger in Banat than in the Moldavia region, given the differences in socio-economic

status between these regions.

Method

Participants

The sample included 361 eighth grade students (179 girls; 72.6% Romanians and 27.4 %

Hungarians) enrolled in urban public schools in Banat (n = 237, 111 girls) and Moldavia (n =

124, 68 girls). Children from Banat were recruited from Timisoara, the most important city from

the region as well as two other urban areas from this region; the children from Moldavia were

recruited from Iasi, the most important city from the region. Specifically, the Banat samples

included the Romanian majority (n = 138, 68 girls) and Hungarian minority (n = 99, 43 girls)

children, while the Moldavian sample was comprised of only a majority Romanian sample (n =

129, 72 girls). Invitation letters describing the study were distributed to families throughout the

schools, and families agreed to let their children volunteer for the study. The mean age for the

entire sample was 13.36 (SD = .70), range between 12-15 years. The mean age for the Romanian

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 11

sample from Banat was 13.42, SD = .72, range 12 to 15 years; the mean age for the minority

Hungarian sample from Banat was 13.30, SD = .64, range 12 to 15 years; the mean age for the

majority children from Moldavia was 13.34, SD = .73, range between 12 to 15 years. There were

no significant differences in age, F (2,358) = .96, p > .05, or gender distribution, χ2s < 1.70, ps >

.05.

Procedure

As part of a larger study, the children filled in a questionnaire assessing goal orientations

during the first semester of the school year. Permission for the study was also obtained from the

school authorities and from the principals. The children’s average grades were collected from the

schools’ registers at the end of the first semester.

Measures

Goal orientations

Mastery and performance goal items from the Romanian version (Gherasim et al., 2013)

of the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS; Middleton & Midgley, 1997) were used to

measure the children’s goal orientations. The 31 item scale consists of three subscales assessing

the students’ mastery goals (five items, e.g. An important reason I do my class work is because I

like to learn new things), performance approach goals (five items; e.g. I want to do better than

other students in my classes) and performance avoidance goals (four items, e.g. The reason I do

my work is so the teacher won’t think I know less than the others). The participants responded to

each item using a 5-point scale, from 1 = not at all true to 5 = very true. One item was eliminated

because of the low correlation with the mastery subscale. The total score, created by averaging

the responses across items, was calculated for each goal scale; the higher score indicated a higher

level of goal orientations. Previous studies showed that PALS had demonstrated good test-retest

reliability and consistent correlations with various measures of academic motivation and

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 12

emotional outcomes which supported the construct validity of the scale (Dinger et al., 2013; Keys

et al., 2012; Gherasim et al. 2013). In this study, alphas for the entire sample were .77, .65

and.72 for the performance approach as well as the performance avoidance and mastery goals.

Alphas for each ethnic and regional group ranged between .69 and .77 for the performance

approach goal, .65 to .67 for performance avoidance goals and .65 to .76 for mastery goals.

Academic achievement

We collected the children’s average grades for each of the most important subjects (Math,

Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Romanian and English) from the schools’ registers. The overall

average grade across all subjects was computed.

Results

We conducted the preliminary analyses to investigate whether the children’s age, gender,

family socioeconomic status and family status (intact vs. not intact families) were related to the

children’s goal orientations and achievement. Significant demographic effects are noted in the

relevant sections, and these variables were included as control variables in subsequent analyses as

needed. Next, we evaluated whether there were ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal

orientations and achievement. Finally, we presented the associations among the main study

variables and whether there were differences in the associations among goals and achievement

based on the adolescents’ ethnic and regional groups. For each analysis, we first discussed the

results based on the entire sample, followed by results based on each ethnic and regional group.

Preliminary analyses

Zero-order associations did not show significant associations of the children’s age, family

income and parental level of education with goal orientations and achievement (rs < .07, ps >

.05) except for the positive associations between age and performance approach goals (r = .10, p

= .04) and negative correlation between the mother’s level of education and performance

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 13

avoidance goals (r = -.12, p = .02). Further, there were no significant differences in both the

performance approach and avoidance goals based on the child’s gender or family status.

However, the t-tests revealed a significant gender effect on the children’s achievement, ts (359) =

4.18, p < .01. Girls compared to boys reported a higher level of academic achievement, M (SD) =

8.00(1.38) and M (SD) = 7.37(1.44). Follow-up analyses on each ethnic/regional sample, showed

that these results were significant for both the minority, t (97) = 2.73, p = .007 and majority

children from Banat, t (136) = 1.83, p = .069. For both ethnic girl groups, M (SD) = 8.37(1.43)

and M (SD) = 7.98(1.46) reported higher grades compared to the boys, M (SD) = 7.58(1.43) and

M (SD) = 7.53(1.43). Further, the Romanian girls from Moldavia reported a higher level of

achievement than the boys, t (122) = 3.37, p = .001, M (SD) = 7.77(1.22) and M (SD) =

6.97(1.43) and M (SD) = 2.54(.95). Because of the gender differences in academic achievement,

below we report whether controlling for child gender changed any results.

Regarding the associations among goal orientations, zero-order correlations showed that,

based on the entire sample, children who reported higher levels of performance approach goals

also reported higher levels of both performance avoidance and mastery goals (see Table 1).

Further, controlling for gender did not change the results significantly.

When analysis were conducted for each ethnic and regional group separately, the

associations between the performance-approach were significant for all the children’s samples.

Further, the associations between performance approach and mastery goals were significant for

both majority Romanian and minority Hungarian children from Banat but not for Romanians

from Moldavia. Overall, these results confirmed the link among different types of achievement

goals (Keys et al., 2012). The results did not change significantly when controlling for gender

(see Table 2).

Ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal orientations

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 14

ANOVA analyses showed that there were main effects of ethnic groups on children’s

performance avoidance goals, F (1,231) = 6.51, p = .01, η2 = .02. As shown in Table 2, majority

children reported lower levels of performance avoidance goals compared to their minority peers

who live in the same geographical area. In addition, there was a main effect of ethnicity on

performance approach goals, F (1,222) = 19.90, p < .01, η2 = .08. The majority Romanian

children from Moldavia have a lower level of performance approach goals compared to their

Hungarian peers from Banat.

Finally, there was a significant main effect of geographical region on both majority

children’s performance approach goals, F (1,266) = 9.40, p < .002, η2 = .03 and performance

avoidance goals, F (1,266) = 3.30, p = .084, η2 = .01. Romanian children from Banat reported

lower levels of both performance-approach and avoidance goals compared to Romanians from

Banat (see Table 2).

Ethnic and regional differences in children’s academic achievement

We found some main effects of the ethnic group on children’s achievement only when

minority and majority children live in different geographical areas, Fs (1,222) = 11.04, p < .001,

η2 = .04. Specifically, Romanians from Moldavia have lower levels of achievement compared to

their Hungarian peers from Banat. In addition, we found a significant main effect of geographical

region on children’s achievement, F (1,267) = 4.82, p = .02, η2 = .01. Majority children from

Moldavia had lower levels of academic achievement compared to their majority peers from

Banat.

Associations between children’s goal orientations and achievement

Table 1 presents the zero-order correlations among children’s goal orientations and

academic achievement on the entire sample. Associations were generally modest in magnitude,

ranging between .07 and .25 and showed that children who reported a high level of mastery goals

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 15

but a low level of performance avoidance goals had higher academic achievement. These results

did not change significantly when controlling for the gender.

When patterns of associations were examined for each ethnic and regional group, the

findings were similar (see Table 2). In each ethnic and regional group the performance avoidance

goals were negatively associated with achievement, while mastery goals were positively related

to achievement for both ethnic samples from Banat but not for majority children from Moldavia.

In addition, the performance approach was related to achievement only for the majority ethnic

group from Banat. These results did not change significantly when controlling for the gender.

Variance in child academic achievement explained by goal orientations and ethnic or/and

geographical region

To examine how much variance in child academic achievement on the entire sample is

explained by the goal orientations we conducted a regression analyses. The results indicate that,

after controlling for gender, goal orientations altogether explained a significant variance in the

children’s academic achievement (ΔR2 = .41, F (4, 356) = 15.60, p < .01), both mastery and

performance avoidance goals being significant predictors of achievement.

Cultural differences in the relations between children’s goal orientations and achievement

We conducted an exploratory analysis to investigate whether there were ethnic and

regional differences in the associations between children’s goal orientations and academic

achievement. The patterns of correlations between goals and the children’s academic

achievement presented in Table 2 were not significantly different for Romanians from Banat,

Hungarians from Banat and Romanians from Moldavia (all Zs < 1.96, ps > .05).

Discussion

Our study investigated how ethnic membership and geographical region relate to

children’s academic achievement and goal orientations. Further, the study explored whether there

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 16

are ethnic or regional differences in how the goal orientations are associated with children’s

academic achievement. This study adds to the literature by using a cross-cultural approach and

exploring whether there are ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal orientations and

their academic achievement. Further, the study enhanced the literature by evaluating the relations

between goal orientations and children’s academic achievement and whether these relations differ

as a function of ethnic and geographical region.

The findings revealed ethnic differences in children’s academic achievement between

majority and minority children only when the geographical region was considered. Specifically,

minority children had higher levels of academic achievement compared to their majority peers

living in another geographical region but not compared to majority peers from the same

geographical area. These results are consistent with previous research conducted on ethnic groups

from Western countries showing that differences in children’s achievement between majority and

minority ethnicities depend on the country’s geographical areas where the studies have been

carried out (Belfi et al., 2014; Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000; Sammons,

1995). Further, the results also confirm previous studies conducted in the Romanian context

indicating no ethnic differences in academic achievement between majority and Hungarian

minority children from Transylvania, a central geographical region within country (Bernath &

Hatos, 2009; Wagner, 2012). Finally, we found regional differences in the children’s

achievement; the majority children from Banat had a higher level of achievement compared to

those from Moldavia. These results complement previous findings indicating that the

geographical region needs to be considered when ethnic differences between majority children

and minority are explored (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000). Taken

together, these results revealed that majority children are more similar to their minority peers who

live in the same region, than with their majority peers who live in another region. These findings

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 17

are consistent with previous literature indicating that there are more attitudes and value

similarities among adults who live in the same area (Banat), even if they are members of different

ethnic groups, than individuals who live in other geographical areas, including Moldavia

(Gavreliuc, 2011).

The results showed that both minority and majority children, regardless the geographical

region, reported similar levels of mastery goals. These findings are in line with previous studies

showing no ethnic differences between Hungarian minority children and their majority peers

(Pasztor, 2006; Wagner, 2012). One explanation for these findings could be that in this study the

family’s socioeconomic status was similar across ethnic groups (Dekker & Fischer, 2008).

Further, we found ethnic differences in children’s performance goals. Specifically, we

found that minority children reported higher levels of performance avoidance goals compared to

their majority peers from the same geographical region (Banat) and higher levels of performance

approach goals compared to their majority peers from another area (Moldavia). These results are

in line with previous studies indicating that the majority Western adolescents reported lower

levels of performance goals compared to their minority peers (Rueda et al., 2010; Witkow &

Fuligni, 2007). Further, the findings confirm previous studies conducted in other region of

Romania (i.e., Transylvania) showing that Hungarian minority children reported higher levels of

performance-avoidance goals compared to their majority peers (Pasztor, 2006). These results

could be explained by tendency of Hungarian children to use more the self-protective

mechanisms, like handicapping strategies, which in turn may determine higher levels of

performance goals (Wagner, 2012).

Regarding the association between goal orientations and academic achievement, the

results showed that children who reported higher levels of mastery goals had higher levels of

academic achievement, while those who reported higher levels of performance avoidance goals

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 18

had lower levels of achievement across all ethnic and regional samples. These findings are

consistent with previous literature showing that mastery goals, compared to performance

avoidance goals, are associated with higher levels of academic achievement (Dinger et al., 2013;

Keys et al., 2012; Middleton & Midgley, 1997). In addition, we added to the literature by

showing that the relations of goal orientations with achievement do not vary based on the ethnic

and regional contexts. Further, the associations are similar even when it comes to considering the

geographical regions within the country where the ethnic samples live. Future studies should

investigate whether these results regarding the relation between goal orientations and

achievement generalize to other ethnic or geographical regions from other East European

countries.

Although this study represents a step toward the study of ethnic and regional differences

in children’s goal orientations and academic achievement, several limitations should be noted.

First, our study focused on the one dimension of achievement, the children’s grades, however, the

academic achievement is a broader construct, and future studies should address these relations in

regard to other indexes of academic achievement, such as national assessments. Second, our

results are correlational and do not lend themselves to any causal interpretations. Using a

longitudinal design would allow one to determine the direction of the effects of the associations

between goals and achievement. For example, it is likely that a child’s level of academic

achievement may trigger achievement goals that are consistent with mastery goals. Finally, while

a child’s perspective on their goal orientations provides valuable information, future studies

should rely on a multiple informant approach that (i.e. parents and teachers) may capture

characteristics of a learning environment, such as an ethnic school structure or classroom goal

orientations.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 19

Despite these limitations, these current findings offer an integrative perspective toward

understanding new and important sources of children’s achievement. We found that majority and

minority children from the same geographical region have similar levels of academic

achievement, but both of these ethnic samples had higher levels of achievement than majority

children who live in another geographical region characterized by low levels of human

developmental index. This study showed that the relations between goal orientations and

academic achievement are similar and important across all ethnic and regional contexts

investigated in this study.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 20

Table 1

Zero-order associations among main study variables

M SD Range 1 2 3 4

1. Performance approach goals 3.24 .96 1 - 5 .23** .36** .08

2. Performance avoidance goals 2.35 .92 1 - 4.75 .23** .02 -.24**

3. Mastery goals 3.52 .93 1 - 5 .36** .01 .20**

4. Achievement 7.68 1.44 4.29 - 10 .07 -.25** .21**

Note: N = 361; upper right – zero-order associations; lower left – partial correlations controlling

for the child’s gender.

* p < .05. ** p < .01.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 21

Table 2

Zero-order associations among the main study variables for each ethnic and /or regional sample

Mean SD 1 2 3 4

Romanian majority group from

Banat

1. Performance approach goals 3.16c .98 .28** .37** .20*

2. Performance avoidance goals 2.20a,c .92 .28** .13 -.24**

3. Mastery goals 3.51 .92 .36** .13 .24**

4. Achievement 7.75c 1.46 .20* -.23** .25**

Minority Hungarian group from

Banat

1. Performance approach goals 2.99b .90 .32** .30** .02

2. Performance avoidance goals 2.56a .90 .33** -.06 -.37**

3. Mastery goals 3.34 .96 .29** -.07 .32**

4. Achievement 7.93b 1.46 -.01 -.38** .33**

Romanian majority group from

Moldavia

1. Performance approach goals 3.53b,c .93 .14 .36** .12

2. Performance avoidance goals 2.35c .89 .15† -.005 -.17†

3. Mastery goals 3.68 .90 .35** -.03 .11

4. Achievement 7.41b,c 1.37 .10 -.22* .14

Note: Romanian ethnic group from Banat n = 138, Hungarian ethnic group from Banat n = 99;

Romanian ethnic group from Moldavia n = 124; upper right – zero-order associations; lower left

– partial correlations controlling for the child’s gender.

a – significant difference between Romanian and Hungarian samples from Banat, b – significant

difference between the Romanian sample from Moldavia and the Hungarian sample from Banat,

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 22

c – significant difference between Romanian sample from Banat and Romanian sample from

Moldavia.

* p < .05. ** p < .01. † p = .088.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 23

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Running head: ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 1

Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membership matter?

Manuscript - anonymous (Manuscrito - anónimo)

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 2

Abstract

This study explored how ethnic membership relates to children’s academic achievement

and goal orientations and whether there are ethnic differences in how goal orientations are linked

to academic achievement. Further, we investigated whether these relations vary based on the

geographical region were ethnic groups live. The sample included 361 children (179 girls), age

12 to 15 years, from two regions in Romania, Banat (n = 237) and Moldavia (n = 124). Ethnic

differences were found in goal orientations between majority and minority children from both the

same and different geographical regions, whereas differences in academic achievement were

found only between ethnic groups who live in different areas. The strength of the associations

between goals and academic achievement were not significantly different based on ethnic and

regional background. The findings show that there are ethnic and regional differences in

children’s achievement and goal orientations, however the relations among academic

achievement and goal orientations are similar across the analysed ethnic and regional groups.

Keywords: academic achievement; goal orientations; majority group, minority ethnic group;

geographical region

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 3

Children’s academic achievement and goal orientations: Does the ethnic membership matter?

Academic achievement has been operationalised in many ways, including scores on

international and national standardized tests or specific school grades (Mark, 2014; Jæger, 2011).

Regardless of the measuring technique, academic achievement is a robust predictor of

adolescents’ future professional career opportunities or attainment of socioeconomic status in

adulthood (see De Witte, Cabus, Thyssen, Groot, & van den Brink, 2014 for a review). Given the

importance of academic achievement in children’s long term adjustment to their future

professional and social accomplishment, much effort has to be devoted on identifying the

psychological factors related to achievement, such as goal orientations. In addition to

psychological factor, cultural contexts, including ethnic membership (see Dekker & Fischer,

2008 for a review) and geographical areas (e.g., Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn &

Mirza, 2000), may shape children’s academic achievement and goal orientations, however, few

studies have investigated the relations among these factors and academic achievement and goal

orientations. The first purpose of our study was to investigate how ethnic membership relates to

children’s academic achievement and goal orientations. The second purpose of our study is to

explore whether these relations might vary based on geographic region where the ethnic groups

live (the same vs. different geographical regions within the country).

Academic achievement and ethnicity

Earlier literature on the relation between culture and academic achievement has provided

evidence of differences in test scores, school grades, high school completion rates or college

attainment between majority students and their ethnic minority peers in Western countries.

Specifically, studies have shown that a majority of European American children have had lower

levels of academic achievement compared to Asian American (i.e. Chinese Americans) minority

groups (see Warikoo & Carter, 2009 for a review) but have higher achievement than other

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 4

minority ethnic groups, including African American and Hispanic minority children (Alon &

Tienda, 2007; Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010). Recent studies have shown reverse ethnic

disparities, African American and Hispanic students performing better on standardized tests than

their majority high school classmates (Letcher & Tienda, 2010). When ethnic differences in

children’s academic achievement were explored across Western European countries (e.g., United

Kingdom and Belgium), mixed findings were reported. Some studies reported that White British

majority children performed better than other ethnic groups (i.e. White European and African) on

national tests except the Indian and Chinese minority groups (Khattab, 2015; Rothon, 2007).

Other studies found that White British children performed better on national tests that their Asian

peers (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Frumkin, 2013). Finally, other studies showed that both

White British and Belgian majority children had similar test scores with both East European and

African minority children (Belfi et al., 2014; Sammons, 1995; Shah, Dwyer, & Modood, 2010).

Relying on previous studies indicating regional differences in academic achievement (i.e.,

national tests) of Western children who live in different geographical areas within the same

country (e.g., Australia) or in different metropolitan (e.g., Melbourne and Wyndham) regions

(Caro, Cortina, & Eccles, 2015; Marks, 2014), it was suggested that geographical areas might

explain the inconsistent findings regarding ethnic differences in achievement. However, few

studies have explored how geographical region is related to children’s academic achievement and

ethnic membership. The results showed that although, overall the majority groups (i.e. White

British children) performed better on national tests than other ethnic minority groups (e.g.

African or Asian minority children), there were geographical areas within country where each of

ethnic minority group performed better than majority group (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008;

Gillborn & Mirza, 2000; Sammons, 1995). Differences in socio-economic family status,

including social class, parental education or family income may explain regional differences in

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 5

achievement between majority and minority children from Western countries (Mark, 2014;

Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010; Rueda et al., 2010; Sammons, 1995).

Studies investigating how ethnic membership relates to academic achievement across

Eastern European countries are relatively rare. It is important to note that East European societies

have the experience of communist regimes that structured their living conditions, including

education, in terms of decreasing the family interest in children’s education (Schwartz & Bardi,

1997). For example, studies conducted in Romania compared the majority with Hungarian

minority children, the largest minority group from this country (representing 6.60% of the total

population), and the findings provided an ambiguous picture of differences in children’s

achievement. Specifically, some studies have indicated that the Hungarian minority group had

lower levels of achievement compared to their majority peers (Bernath & Hatos, 2009; Csata,

2004; Hatos, 2011), while others reported opposite results, showing that Hungarian minority

children performed better in school than do their majority peers (Pasztor, 2006). Finally, other

studies have revealed no ethnic differences on academic achievement between these ethnic

groups (Wagner, 2012). Overall, little is known regarding the ethnic differences in children’s

academic achievement from Romania. To advance the literature, we evaluated whether there are

differences in children’s achievement between majority and Hungarian minority ethnic groups

from Romania. Based on previous literature, we expected that majority children would have

higher levels of achievement compared to their minority ethnic peers.

Further, the existing studies exploring the ethnic differences in children’s academic

achievement between Romanian and Hungarian children samples were conducted in Western

regions of Romania, particularly Transylvania (Bernath & Hatos, 2009; Csata, 2004; Hatos,

2011). These findings leave open the question whether ethnic differences in children’s academic

achievement are similar in other geographical regions within the country, such as Banat and

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 6

Moldavia. In this study we evaluated ethnic differences in children’s achievement between

majority and minority samples from two other geographical regions within the country -

Moldavia and Banat. The Moldavia is the Eastern region of Romania characterized by a low

socio-economic status and low density of minority groups (Voicu & Voicu, 2007). In this region

the proportion of Hungarian minority group is insignificant, representing less than 0.5% of the

population (Ghetau, 2012), so we could not include a sample of Hungarian minority children

from Moldavia. Banat, is the Western region of the country and is characterized by multi-

ethnicity as well as a higher socioeconomic homogeneity (Ghetau, 2012; Voicu & Voicu, 2007)..

Based on these findings, we expected that the majority children from Moldavia would have lower

levels of academic achievement than their peers from Banat.

Goal orientations and ethnicity

Goal orientations, defined as cognitive-motivational purposes for engagement in different

situations, are important antecedents to students’ cognition, affect and behaviour in achievement

situations (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). This present study draws on the trichotomous achievement

goal model (Elliot & Church, 1997) that distinguishes among three different achievement goals:

mastery goals - focused toward mastering content, learning and developing the competencies,

performance approach goals - orientated to demonstrate one’s competences and performance

relative to others and performance avoidance goals - focused on preventing failures and avoiding

normative incompetence. Previous studies conducted predominantly with participants from

Western countries (e.g., United States or Germany), confirmed that achievement goals are

captured by the trichotomous goal model (see Wirthwein, Sparfeldt, Pinquart, Wegerer, &

Steinmayr, 2013 for an extensive review).

However the theory is well-known, little studies have been carried out to study the goal

orientations cross-culturally. Specifically, studies conducted on adults from Western countries

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 7

(e.g., United States and Canada) and the findings showed that Asian American college students

were more performance avoidance orientated than their European American counterparts,

although they did not differ in terms of both mastery and performance approach goals (e.g.,

Elliot, Chirkov, Kim, & Sheldon, 2001). Fewer studies explored ethnic differences in goal

orientations on adolescent samples, and the results indicated that Asian American adolescents

reported higher levels of both performance approach and avoidance goals compared to their

Latino and European American peers (Witkow & Fuligni, 2007).The socio-economic level of the

ethnic group and the parents’ long-term socialization goals might explain why the meaning and

the implications of specific goal orientations vary based on ethnic group membership (Khattab,

2015; Modood, 2004).

Although previous literature investigated the goal orientations in East European countries

(e.g., Gherasim, Butnaru & Mairean, 2013; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009), studies comparing

achievement related goals based on ethnic membership within these countries are limited. The

studies conducted on Romanian samples, revealed that Hungarian minority children reported

similar level of mastery goals with the Romanian majority peers, whereas the Hungarian children

reported more performance avoidance goals than did majority children (Pasztor, 2006; Wagner,

2012). These findings were explained by the tendency of Hungarian minority children to focus

more on learning activities than their majority peers and to report more self-protective

mechanisms, such as higher levels of anxiety (Wagner, 2012). To advance the literature, we

evaluated whether there are ethnic differences in children’s goal orientations between the

majority and Hungarian minority groups from Romania. We expected that Romanian children

would have lower levels of performance avoidance and approach goals compared to their

Hungarian minority peers, but no differences on mastery goals between majority and minority

groups.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 8

In addition, previous literature review revealed that goal orientations are related to

societal levels of the human development index (see Dekker & Fischer, 2008 for a review). To

advance the literature, we evaluated whether there are ethnic differences in the levels of goal

orientations between majority and Hungarian minority samples living in geographical regions,

Banat and Moldavia. According to Dekker and Fischer (2008), we hypothesized that majority

children living in Moldavia, a geographical area with a low level of human development index

(Voicu & Voicu, 2007), have the tendency to adopt fewer mastery goals but more performance

goals, than both their majority and minority peers from Banat, a region with a higher index level

of human development.

Academic achievement, goal orientations, and ethnicity

Previous literature has shown that the achievement goal theory was employed to predict

and understand different children’s academic outcomes, including learning strategies, academic

engagement and social adjustment (see Wigfield & Cambria, 2010; Wirthwein et al., 2013 for

extensive reviews). Specifically, mastery goals are linked to deep cognitive strategies, adaptive

patterns of coping and positive emotions, performance approach goals have negative

consequences on learning strategies, achievement motivation and psychological well-being,

whereas performance avoidance goals were regularly linked to disinterest, negative emotions and

disorganized learning strategies.

A distinct set of studies focused on the achievement role of goal orientations on Western

samples (e.g., Western European countries and the United States; see Wirthwein et al., 2013 for

an extensive review). Overall the findings indicate that children who reported more mastery goals

had higher levels of academic achievement (e.g., Dinger, Dickhauser, Spinath, & Steinmayr,

2013). Regarding the achievement role of performance goals, mixed findings were reported.

Specifically, some studies reported that performance approach goals were positively related

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 9

children’s achievement while other studies found that these goals are unrelated to achievement

(e.g., Keys, Conley, Duncan, & Domina, 2012; Ku, Dittmar, & Banerjee, 2012). Further,

performance avoidance goals were negatively associated or unrelated to children’s academic

achievement (e.g., Keys et al., 2012; Ku et al., 2012).

Studies conducted on non-Western cultures have been relatively rare and limited to a few

cultural contexts. Positive associations of academic achievement with both mastery and

performance goals on East Asian samples (i.e. Chinese and Philippine) were reported (e.g. Liem,

Lau, & Nie, 2008). Studies conducted on East European countries (e. g., Romania and Slovakia)

indicated a similar positive impact of both mastery and performance approach goals on children’s

academic achievement, while performance avoidance goals were negatively related to their

achievement (Gherasim et al., 2013; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009).

Relatively rare are studies that have incorporated the examination of ethnic membership

and explored the relation between goal orientations and achievement. The studies conducted

primarily in Western countries (e.g. the United States) confirmed the achieving role of goals

according to the trichonomus model of goal orientations, however, the relations between

academic achievement and goals were inconsistent across different ethnic groups. Specifically,

some studies have found that mastery goals were related with middle school students’

achievement, while performance related goals did not link with achievement across White,

Hispanic and Vietnamese ethnic groups (Keys et al., 2012). Other studies have shown that

mastery goals predicted academic achievement across all middle and high school children

samples, whereas performance-avoidance goals negatively predicted achievement for British

students but not for Chinese students (Ku et al., 2012). Overall, little is known regarding the

ethnic differences in the relation between children’s goal orientations and academic achievement.

To advance in the literature, in this study we investigated the relation between goal orientations

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 10

and academic achievement and whether these relations differ based on ethnic membership.

Consistent with the context specificity hypothesis (Dekker and Fischer, 2008) we expected that

these relations would be different between majority and minority ethnic groups.

Finally, previous literature suggests that the geographical region may shape the relation

among achievement, goal orientations and ethnic membership (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008;

Riegle-Crumb & Grodsky, 2010; Rueda et al., 2010), but until now no study investigated these

relations. To add to the literature, in this study we explored whether the relations among ethnic

membership, achievement goal and orientations differ based on the geographical region.

According to the geographical region hypotheses (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Riegle-Crumb

& Grodsky, 2010), we expected the relations between mastery goals and academic achievement

to be stronger in Banat than in the Moldavia region, given the differences in socio-economic

status between these regions.

Method

Participants

The sample included 361 eighth grade students (179 girls; 72.6% Romanians and 27.4 %

Hungarians) enrolled in urban public schools in Banat (n = 237, 111 girls) and Moldavia (n =

124, 68 girls). Children from Banat were recruited from Timisoara, the most important city from

the region as well as two other urban areas from this region; the children from Moldavia were

recruited from Iasi, the most important city from the region. Specifically, the Banat samples

included the Romanian majority (n = 138, 68 girls) and Hungarian minority (n = 99, 43 girls)

children, while the Moldavian sample was comprised of only a majority Romanian sample (n =

129, 72 girls). Invitation letters describing the study were distributed to families throughout the

schools, and families agreed to let their children volunteer for the study. The mean age for the

entire sample was 13.36 (SD = .70), range between 12-15 years. The mean age for the Romanian

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 11

sample from Banat was 13.42, SD = .72, range 12 to 15 years; the mean age for the minority

Hungarian sample from Banat was 13.30, SD = .64, range 12 to 15 years; the mean age for the

majority children from Moldavia was 13.34, SD = .73, range between 12 to 15 years. There were

no significant differences in age, F (2,358) = .96, p > .05, or gender distribution, χ2s < 1.70, ps >

.05.

Procedure

As part of a larger study, the children filled in a questionnaire assessing goal orientations

during the first semester of the school year. Permission for the study was also obtained from the

school authorities and from the principals. The children’s average grades were collected from the

schools’ registers at the end of the first semester.

Measures

Goal orientations

Mastery and performance goal items from the Romanian version (Gherasim et al., 2013)

of the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey (PALS; Middleton & Midgley, 1997) were used to

measure the children’s goal orientations. The 31 item scale consists of three subscales assessing

the students’ mastery goals (five items, e.g. An important reason I do my class work is because I

like to learn new things), performance approach goals (five items; e.g. I want to do better than

other students in my classes) and performance avoidance goals (four items, e.g. The reason I do

my work is so the teacher won’t think I know less than the others). The participants responded to

each item using a 5-point scale, from 1 = not at all true to 5 = very true. One item was eliminated

because of the low correlation with the mastery subscale. The total score, created by averaging

the responses across items, was calculated for each goal scale; the higher score indicated a higher

level of goal orientations. Previous studies showed that PALS had demonstrated good test-retest

reliability and consistent correlations with various measures of academic motivation and

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 12

emotional outcomes which supported the construct validity of the scale (Dinger et al., 2013; Keys

et al., 2012; Gherasim et al. 2013). In this study, alphas for the entire sample were .77, .65

and.72 for the performance approach as well as the performance avoidance and mastery goals.

Alphas for each ethnic and regional group ranged between .69 and .77 for the performance

approach goal, .65 to .67 for performance avoidance goals and .65 to .76 for mastery goals.

Academic achievement

We collected the children’s average grades for each of the most important subjects (Math,

Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Romanian and English) from the schools’ registers. The overall

average grade across all subjects was computed.

Results

We conducted the preliminary analyses to investigate whether the children’s age, gender,

family socioeconomic status and family status (intact vs. not intact families) were related to the

children’s goal orientations and achievement. Significant demographic effects are noted in the

relevant sections, and these variables were included as control variables in subsequent analyses as

needed. Next, we evaluated whether there were ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal

orientations and achievement. Finally, we presented the associations among the main study

variables and whether there were differences in the associations among goals and achievement

based on the adolescents’ ethnic and regional groups. For each analysis, we first discussed the

results based on the entire sample, followed by results based on each ethnic and regional group.

Preliminary analyses

Zero-order associations did not show significant associations of the children’s age, family

income and parental level of education with goal orientations and achievement (rs < .07, ps >

.05) except for the positive associations between age and performance approach goals (r = .10, p

= .04) and negative correlation between the mother’s level of education and performance

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 13

avoidance goals (r = -.12, p = .02). Further, there were no significant differences in both the

performance approach and avoidance goals based on the child’s gender or family status.

However, the t-tests revealed a significant gender effect on the children’s achievement, ts (359) =

4.18, p < .01. Girls compared to boys reported a higher level of academic achievement, M (SD) =

8.00(1.38) and M (SD) = 7.37(1.44). Follow-up analyses on each ethnic/regional sample, showed

that these results were significant for both the minority, t (97) = 2.73, p = .007 and majority

children from Banat, t (136) = 1.83, p = .069. For both ethnic girl groups, M (SD) = 8.37(1.43)

and M (SD) = 7.98(1.46) reported higher grades compared to the boys, M (SD) = 7.58(1.43) and

M (SD) = 7.53(1.43). Further, the Romanian girls from Moldavia reported a higher level of

achievement than the boys, t (122) = 3.37, p = .001, M (SD) = 7.77(1.22) and M (SD) =

6.97(1.43) and M (SD) = 2.54(.95). Because of the gender differences in academic achievement,

below we report whether controlling for child gender changed any results.

Regarding the associations among goal orientations, zero-order correlations showed that,

based on the entire sample, children who reported higher levels of performance approach goals

also reported higher levels of both performance avoidance and mastery goals (see Table 1).

Further, controlling for gender did not change the results significantly.

When analysis were conducted for each ethnic and regional group separately, the

associations between the performance-approach were significant for all the children’s samples.

Further, the associations between performance approach and mastery goals were significant for

both majority Romanian and minority Hungarian children from Banat but not for Romanians

from Moldavia. Overall, these results confirmed the link among different types of achievement

goals (Keys et al., 2012). The results did not change significantly when controlling for gender

(see Table 2).

Ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal orientations

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 14

ANOVA analyses showed that there were main effects of ethnic groups on children’s

performance avoidance goals, F (1,231) = 6.51, p = .01, η2 = .02. As shown in Table 2, majority

children reported lower levels of performance avoidance goals compared to their minority peers

who live in the same geographical area. In addition, there was a main effect of ethnicity on

performance approach goals, F (1,222) = 19.90, p < .01, η2 = .08. The majority Romanian

children from Moldavia have a lower level of performance approach goals compared to their

Hungarian peers from Banat.

Finally, there was a significant main effect of geographical region on both majority

children’s performance approach goals, F (1,266) = 9.40, p < .002, η2 = .03 and performance

avoidance goals, F (1,266) = 3.30, p = .084, η2 = .01. Romanian children from Banat reported

lower levels of both performance-approach and avoidance goals compared to Romanians from

Banat (see Table 2).

Ethnic and regional differences in children’s academic achievement

We found some main effects of the ethnic group on children’s achievement only when

minority and majority children live in different geographical areas, Fs (1,222) = 11.04, p < .001,

η2 = .04. Specifically, Romanians from Moldavia have lower levels of achievement compared to

their Hungarian peers from Banat. In addition, we found a significant main effect of geographical

region on children’s achievement, F (1,267) = 4.82, p = .02, η2 = .01. Majority children from

Moldavia had lower levels of academic achievement compared to their majority peers from

Banat.

Associations between children’s goal orientations and achievement

Table 1 presents the zero-order correlations among children’s goal orientations and

academic achievement on the entire sample. Associations were generally modest in magnitude,

ranging between .07 and .25 and showed that children who reported a high level of mastery goals

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 15

but a low level of performance avoidance goals had higher academic achievement. These results

did not change significantly when controlling for the gender.

When patterns of associations were examined for each ethnic and regional group, the

findings were similar (see Table 2). In each ethnic and regional group the performance avoidance

goals were negatively associated with achievement, while mastery goals were positively related

to achievement for both ethnic samples from Banat but not for majority children from Moldavia.

In addition, the performance approach was related to achievement only for the majority ethnic

group from Banat. These results did not change significantly when controlling for the gender.

Variance in child academic achievement explained by goal orientations and ethnic or/and

geographical region

To examine how much variance in child academic achievement on the entire sample is

explained by the goal orientations we conducted a regression analyses. The results indicate that,

after controlling for gender, goal orientations altogether explained a significant variance in the

children’s academic achievement (ΔR2 = .41, F (4, 356) = 15.60, p < .01), both mastery and

performance avoidance goals being significant predictors of achievement.

Cultural differences in the relations between children’s goal orientations and achievement

We conducted an exploratory analysis to investigate whether there were ethnic and

regional differences in the associations between children’s goal orientations and academic

achievement. The patterns of correlations between goals and the children’s academic

achievement presented in Table 2 were not significantly different for Romanians from Banat,

Hungarians from Banat and Romanians from Moldavia (all Zs < 1.96, ps > .05).

Discussion

Our study investigated how ethnic membership and geographical region relate to

children’s academic achievement and goal orientations. Further, the study explored whether there

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 16

are ethnic or regional differences in how the goal orientations are associated with children’s

academic achievement. This study adds to the literature by using a cross-cultural approach and

exploring whether there are ethnic and regional differences in children’s goal orientations and

their academic achievement. Further, the study enhanced the literature by evaluating the relations

between goal orientations and children’s academic achievement and whether these relations differ

as a function of ethnic and geographical region.

The findings revealed ethnic differences in children’s academic achievement between

majority and minority children only when the geographical region was considered. Specifically,

minority children had higher levels of academic achievement compared to their majority peers

living in another geographical region but not compared to majority peers from the same

geographical area. These results are consistent with previous research conducted on ethnic groups

from Western countries showing that differences in children’s achievement between majority and

minority ethnicities depend on the country’s geographical areas where the studies have been

carried out (Belfi et al., 2014; Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000; Sammons,

1995). Further, the results also confirm previous studies conducted in the Romanian context

indicating no ethnic differences in academic achievement between majority and Hungarian

minority children from Transylvania, a central geographical region within country (Bernath &

Hatos, 2009; Wagner, 2012). Finally, we found regional differences in the children’s

achievement; the majority children from Banat had a higher level of achievement compared to

those from Moldavia. These results complement previous findings indicating that the

geographical region needs to be considered when ethnic differences between majority children

and minority are explored (Frederickson & Petrides, 2008; Gillborn & Mirza, 2000). Taken

together, these results revealed that majority children are more similar to their minority peers who

live in the same region, than with their majority peers who live in another region. These findings

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 17

are consistent with previous literature indicating that there are more attitudes and value

similarities among adults who live in the same area (Banat), even if they are members of different

ethnic groups, than individuals who live in other geographical areas, including Moldavia

(Gavreliuc, 2011).

The results showed that both minority and majority children, regardless the geographical

region, reported similar levels of mastery goals. These findings are in line with previous studies

showing no ethnic differences between Hungarian minority children and their majority peers

(Pasztor, 2006; Wagner, 2012). One explanation for these findings could be that in this study the

family’s socioeconomic status was similar across ethnic groups (Dekker & Fischer, 2008).

Further, we found ethnic differences in children’s performance goals. Specifically, we

found that minority children reported higher levels of performance avoidance goals compared to

their majority peers from the same geographical region (Banat) and higher levels of performance

approach goals compared to their majority peers from another area (Moldavia). These results are

in line with previous studies indicating that the majority Western adolescents reported lower

levels of performance goals compared to their minority peers (Rueda et al., 2010; Witkow &

Fuligni, 2007). Further, the findings confirm previous studies conducted in other region of

Romania (i.e., Transylvania) showing that Hungarian minority children reported higher levels of

performance-avoidance goals compared to their majority peers (Pasztor, 2006). These results

could be explained by tendency of Hungarian children to use more the self-protective

mechanisms, like handicapping strategies, which in turn may determine higher levels of

performance goals (Wagner, 2012).

Regarding the association between goal orientations and academic achievement, the

results showed that children who reported higher levels of mastery goals had higher levels of

academic achievement, while those who reported higher levels of performance avoidance goals

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 18

had lower levels of achievement across all ethnic and regional samples. These findings are

consistent with previous literature showing that mastery goals, compared to performance

avoidance goals, are associated with higher levels of academic achievement (Dinger et al., 2013;

Keys et al., 2012; Middleton & Midgley, 1997). In addition, we added to the literature by

showing that the relations of goal orientations with achievement do not vary based on the ethnic

and regional contexts. Further, the associations are similar even when it comes to considering the

geographical regions within the country where the ethnic samples live. Future studies should

investigate whether these results regarding the relation between goal orientations and

achievement generalize to other ethnic or geographical regions from other East European

countries.

Although this study represents a step toward the study of ethnic and regional differences

in children’s goal orientations and academic achievement, several limitations should be noted.

First, our study focused on the one dimension of achievement, the children’s grades, however, the

academic achievement is a broader construct, and future studies should address these relations in

regard to other indexes of academic achievement, such as national assessments. Second, our

results are correlational and do not lend themselves to any causal interpretations. Using a

longitudinal design would allow one to determine the direction of the effects of the associations

between goals and achievement. For example, it is likely that a child’s level of academic

achievement may trigger achievement goals that are consistent with mastery goals. Finally, while

a child’s perspective on their goal orientations provides valuable information, future studies

should rely on a multiple informant approach that (i.e. parents and teachers) may capture

characteristics of a learning environment, such as an ethnic school structure or classroom goal

orientations.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 19

Despite these limitations, these current findings offer an integrative perspective toward

understanding new and important sources of children’s achievement. We found that majority and

minority children from the same geographical region have similar levels of academic

achievement, but both of these ethnic samples had higher levels of achievement than majority

children who live in another geographical region characterized by low levels of human

developmental index. This study showed that the relations between goal orientations and

academic achievement are similar and important across all ethnic and regional contexts

investigated in this study.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 20

Table 1

Zero-order associations among main study variables

M SD Range 1 2 3 4

1. Performance approach goals 3.24 .96 1 - 5 .23** .36** .08

2. Performance avoidance goals 2.35 .92 1 - 4.75 .23** .02 -.24**

3. Mastery goals 3.52 .93 1 - 5 .36** .01 .20**

4. Achievement 7.68 1.44 4.29 - 10 .07 -.25** .21**

Note: N = 361; upper right – zero-order associations; lower left – partial correlations controlling

for the child’s gender.

* p < .05. ** p < .01.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 21

Table 2

Zero-order associations among the main study variables for each ethnic and /or regional sample

Mean SD 1 2 3 4

Romanian majority group from

Banat

1. Performance approach goals 3.16c .98 .28** .37** .20*

2. Performance avoidance goals 2.20a,c .92 .28** .13 -.24**

3. Mastery goals 3.51 .92 .36** .13 .24**

4. Achievement 7.75c 1.46 .20* -.23** .25**

Minority Hungarian group from

Banat

1. Performance approach goals 2.99b .90 .32** .30** .02

2. Performance avoidance goals 2.56a .90 .33** -.06 -.37**

3. Mastery goals 3.34 .96 .29** -.07 .32**

4. Achievement 7.93b 1.46 -.01 -.38** .33**

Romanian majority group from

Moldavia

1. Performance approach goals 3.53b,c .93 .14 .36** .12

2. Performance avoidance goals 2.35c .89 .15† -.005 -.17†

3. Mastery goals 3.68 .90 .35** -.03 .11

4. Achievement 7.41b,c 1.37 .10 -.22* .14

Note: Romanian ethnic group from Banat n = 138, Hungarian ethnic group from Banat n = 99;

Romanian ethnic group from Moldavia n = 124; upper right – zero-order associations; lower left

– partial correlations controlling for the child’s gender.

a – significant difference between Romanian and Hungarian samples from Banat, b – significant

difference between the Romanian sample from Moldavia and the Hungarian sample from Banat,

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 22

c – significant difference between Romanian sample from Banat and Romanian sample from

Moldavia.

* p < .05. ** p < .01. † p = .088.

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, GOAL ORIENTATIONS AND ETHNICITY 23

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