The system of academic task values: The development of cross-domain comparisons of values and college major choice

Journal article


Umarji, Osman, Wan, Sirui, Wolff, Fabian and Eccles, Jacquelynne. (2023). The system of academic task values: The development of cross-domain comparisons of values and college major choice. Developmental Psychology. 59(6), pp. 1032-1044. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001519
AuthorsUmarji, Osman, Wan, Sirui, Wolff, Fabian and Eccles, Jacquelynne
Abstract

This study synthesizes theories of achievement motivation to better understand the development of academic task values in high school students and their relation to college major selection. We utilize longitudinal structural equation modeling to understand how grades relate to task values, how task values across domains relate to one another over time, and how the system of task values relates to college major choice. In our sample of 1,279 high students from Michigan, we find evidence that task value for math negatively relates to task value for English and vice versa. We also find that task value for math and physical science positively relates to the math-intensiveness of selected college majors, whereas English and biology task value negatively relates to math-intensiveness of majors. Gender differences in college major selection are mediated by differences in task values. Our findings have implications for theories of achievement motivation and motivational interventions.

Keywordssubjective task values; cross-domain comparisons; academic motivation; college major selection; expectancy-value; dimensional comparisons
Year01 Jan 2023
JournalDevelopmental Psychology
Journal citation59 (6), pp. 1032-1044
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association
ISSN0012-1649
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001519
Web address (URL)https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2023-63234-001?doi=1
Open accessPublished as non-open access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range1032-1044
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online13 Apr 2023
Publication process dates
Accepted15 Dec 2022
Deposited12 Apr 2024
Additional information

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental
Health (MH31724), the National Science Foundation (BNS 85-10504),
and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development (HD17296) to Jacquelynne Eccles and by grants
from the National Science Foundation (DBS-9215008, DBS-9215016), the
Spencer Foundation (199500053), and the William T. Grant Foundation
(94145992) to Jacquelynne Eccles and Bonnie Barber.

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
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Place of publicationUnited States
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