Why Try? Achievement Motivation and Perceived Academic Climate among Latino Youth

Elliot and McGregor’s (2001) 2x2 model of achievement motivation (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach and performance-avoidance) was used among 143 Latino adolescents to examine how achievement motivation relates to demographic factors (immigration age, gender, grade), perception of academic climate, and academic outcomes and how these associations change over time. Girls reported higher levels of masteryavoidance achievement motivation and 8 graders reported a greater increase in masteryapproach achievement motivation over time. Perception of a task-focused academic climate moderated the association between mastery-approach achievement motivation and teacherrated academic outcomes. The findings suggest 1) that Latino adolescents’ gender and grade level relate significantly to their achievement motivation 2) that perception of a taskperformance focused academic climate plays an important role in their academic