College Students’ motivational beliefs and use of goal-oriented control strategies: Integrating two theories of motivated behavior

Abstract In college, students often encounter situations in which they struggle to meet their academic goals difficult courses. We integrate the Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development and Situated Expectancy-Value investigate how motivational beliefs experiences a course predict use goal engagement oriented adjustment control strategies that can help stay engaged challenging used survey data collected two quarters at public university U.S. ( N = 231). Students who perceived midterm exam as more than expected with higher course-specific subjective task values reported using strategies. ability were less likely Results further showed planned depending on experienced setbacks or success exams. Findings provide important insights into orientations relate adaptive goal-oriented behavior college