Are multiple goals in elementary students beneficial for their school achievement? A latent class analysis

The present study investigates how students' achievement goal profiles are associated with school achievement in elementary school. We used latent class analysis to identify achievement goal profiles in a sample of N = 4387 Grade 4 students in Germany. Three qualitatively and quantitatively different achievement goal profiles (i.e., mastery-oriented, high multiple, and low mastery) emerged and were compared with regard to standardized test scores in German and mathematics. Students with a mastery-oriented profile clearly outperformed students in the other profiles. In contrast, students with a high multiple profile showed the lowest test scores. Mediation analyses revealed that basic cognitive abilities and gender being equal, the underachievement of students with a high multiple profile when compared with students with a mastery-oriented profile can be partially explained by their higher level of test anxiety.