FAMILY FACTORS, ACHIEVEMENT GOALS AND ACADEMIC MOTIVATION IN LATIN AMERICAN STUDENTS

Abstract

Lack of student motivation is a problem for teachers, who often attribute it to the family. Although we know the effect of parental socialization style and motivational orientation of parents on achievement goals and academic motivation of students, the effect of family climate have been less explored. Also, studies on the relationship between these variables in Latin-American students have not been found. We assessed family climate, style of socialization and goal orientations in the family, and achievement goals and academic motivation in 331 secondary students. We analyzed the effect of the former on the latter by ANOVA. The results show that all three family factors have significant effects on achievement goals and academic motivation of students, and that the goals of these students influence their motivation. The exception was the failure avoidance goals, which are not influenced nor influences other variables. These results and some of the limitations of the research are discussed.