A Latent Curve Model of Parental Motivational Practices and Developmental Decline in Math and Science Academic Intrinsic Motivation

Gottfried, Adele Eskeles
Marcoulides, George A.
Gottfried, Allen W.
Oliver, Pamella H.

¹Department of Educational Psychology
²Center for Teaching and Learning, California State University, Northridge
³Research Methods & Statistics, University of California, Riverside
⁴Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton
⁵Department of Child and Adolescent Studies, California State University, Fullerton

Portions of this research were supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation, Thrasher Research Fund, and California State University, Fullerton and Northridge. Gratitude is extended to the participants and families of the Fullerton Longitudinal Study.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Adele Eskeles Gottfried, Department of Educational Psychology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA 91330. E-mail: [email protected]

Received April 28, 2008

Revision received December 8, 2008

Accepted December 17, 2008

Journal of Educational Psychology 101(3):p 729-739, August 2009. | DOI: 10.1037/a0015084

A longitudinal approach was used to examine the effects of parental task-intrinsic and task-extrinsic motivational practices on academic intrinsic motivation in the subject areas of math and science. Parental task-intrinsic practices comprise encouragement of children's pleasure and engagement in the learning process, whereas task-extrinsic practices comprise parents' provision of external rewards and consequences contingent on children's task performance. A conditional latent curve model was fit to data from the Fullerton Longitudinal Study (), with academic intrinsic motivation in math and science assessed from ages 9 to 17 and parental motivational practices measured when children were age 9. The results indicated that task-intrinsic practices were beneficial with regard to children's initial levels of motivation at age 9 as well as with regard to motivational decline through age 17. Conversely, parents' use of task-extrinsic practices was adverse with regard to children's motivation both at age 9 and across the 8-year interval. Theoretical implications of the findings with regard to academic intrinsic motivation are discussed.