Personal conception of intelligence, attributions and school achievement

Abstract

Development of a comprehensive model of inter-relations during adolescence: A model of achievement motivation during adolescence in which the inter-relations among personal conceptions of intelligence, attributional dimensions and school achievement (GPA) was tested using the structural equations modeling Lisrel. The hypothetical model tested personal conceptions of intelligence and school achievement in the 1st moment of evaluation in a 2-wave longitudinal sequential study, attributional dimensions in both moments of evaluation, and personal conceptions of intelligence and school achievement in the 2nd moment of evaluation. The results point to the direct and positive influence of school achievement in the 1st moment of evaluation on personal conceptions of intelligence in the 2nd moment. The importance of controllability as a causal dimension was also found. School achievement (GPA) proved to be a highly predictive variable over the motivational variables, in the Portuguese school context, confirming the results obtained in other cultural contexts.