1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The aim of this study was to prospectively examine how attachment security to the mother, measured at the end of elementary school, predicts students’ achievement goal orientations at the end of the first year of middle school, as well as to determine the potential mediating role of perceived academic competence and anxiety symptoms in the relationship between attachment security and goal orientations.» (p. 39)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«We hypothesized that attachment security would predict increased mastery and performance-approach goals and decreased performance-avoidance goals […]. [Another] hypothesis posits that attachment security to the parent will predict an increased adoption of mastery and performance-approach goals, and that this relationship will be explained by the student’s perceived academic competence. [Another] hypothesis posits that attachment insecurity will predict increased adoption of performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals, and that this relationship will be mediated by the students’ anxiety symptoms.» (p. 41)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Participants had participated in a large-scale longitudinal study in the province of Québec, Canada, conducted to assess adaptation and perseverance in high school. The study was initiated when students were in Grade 6. The sample comprised 627 students (46% boys, 54% girls) in Grade 6 […].» (p. 42)

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«In conclusion, this study aimed to determine the mediating role of perceived academic competence and anxiety symptoms in the relationship between attachment security to the mother prior to middle school and achievement goal orientations at the end of the first year of middle school. Our findings suggest that perceived security in the relationship with the mother contributed to increased mastery goal orientation in the first year of middle school, which could be explained by adolescents’ perceptions of academic competence. Attachment security also appeared to help protect adolescents against anxiety symptoms, which in turn contributed to a motivational orientation toward either performance-approach or performance-avoidance goals. These findings were independent of adolescents’ gender and controlled for achievement goal orientations prior to the transition to middle school. Taken together, these findings argue for the pivotal role of attachment security to the mother in adolescents’ approach to learning situations during the transition from elementary to middle school.» (p. 46-47)