Achievement goal pursuit during the transition from middle school to high school: its antecedents and consequences from a self-determination perspective

The purpose of the study was to investigate the longitudinal reciprocal relationship between achievement goals and self-determined motivation of students transitioning from middle school to high school. Participants were 3343 students from 9th to 11th grade. The overall results showed that varying degrees of self-determined motivation from middle school (9th grade) influenced the adoption of achievement goals in the first year of high school...