"Cross-Domain Trajectories of Students’ Ability Self-Concepts and Intrinsic Values in Math and Language Arts"

Distinguished Professor Jacquelynne Eccles (right) published an article with colleagues in Child Development exploring students’ cross domain trajectories. The title of the article is “Cross-Domain Trajectories of Students’ Ability Self-Concepts and Intrinsic Values in Math and Language Arts.”

Co-authors are Researcher Hanna Gaspard (University of Tübingen), Professor Fani Lauermann (TU Dortmund University), Dr. Norman Rose (University Hospital Jena), and Professor Emeritus Allan Wigfield (University of Maryland).
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Eccles's academic research focuses on gender-role socialization, classroom influences on student motivation, and social development in the family and school context. She is internationally recognized for her development of the expectancy-value theory of motivation and her concept of stage-environment. 

​​Eccles is a member of the National Academy of Education, a World Scholar at the University of London, Visiting Professor at the University of Tubingen, Germany, and Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia. At UCI, Eccles directs the Motivation and Identity Research Lab (MIRL).

Abstract
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Different cross-domain trajectories in the development of students’ ability self-concepts (ASCs) and their intrinsic valuing of math and language arts were examined in a cross-sequential study spanning Grades 1 through 12 (n = 1,069). Growth mixture modeling analyses identified a Moderate Math Decline/Stable High Language Arts class and a Moderate Math Decline/Strong Language Arts Decline class for students’ ASC trajectories. Students’ intrinsic value trajectories included a Strong Math Decline/Language Arts Decline Leveling Off, a Moderate Math Decline/ Strong Language Arts Decline, and a Stable Math and Language Arts Trajectories class. These classes differed with regard to student characteristics, including gender, family background, and math and reading aptitudes. They also resulted in different high school math course enrollments, career aspirations, and adult careers.