Myfanwy Bugler
University of Hull, UK
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Psychol Abnorm Child
This study investigated gender and age related differences in academic motivation and classroom behavior in adolescents. Eight hundred and fifty-five students (415 girls and 440 boys) aged 11-16 (M age=13.96, SD=1.47) filled in a questionnaire that examined student academic motivation and teachers completed a questionnaire reporting student classroom behavior. Interestingly, early adolescent boys (11-12 years) self-reported academic motivation was significantly more closely associated with reports of student classroom behavior completed by teachers. However, a surprising result was the significant drop in girls adaptive motivation from early to mid-adolescence (13-14 years) and a significant increase in mid-adolescence (13-14 years). Furthermore, teachers reported a significant increase in negative classroom behavior in mid-adolescent and late adolescent girls (15-16 years). The need to further understand the association between academic motivation and classroom behavior at different stages in adolescence and to design interventions to improve classroom behavior is deliberated.
Email: m.bugler@hull.ac.uk
