Domain specificity of self-efficacy and mastery motivation in relation to preschoolers' mathematical performance

• Main Author: Lee, Tiffany Yanyi
• Other Authors: Gianluca Esposito
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Social sciences::Psychology::Motivation; Social sciences::Psychology::Applied psychology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/149147
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With a significant amount of research highlighting the enduring effect of early mathematical skills on mathematical achievement during formal school age, understanding the modifiable predictors of mathematical performance before formal education is paramount. Hence, this study emphasised preschoolers’ internal task experiences – influenced by self-efficacy and mastery motivation – as predictors of early mathematical skills when the child was age 4 (N = 58) and 5 (N = 44) in the context of Singapore. The study was particularly interested in elucidating the domain-specific effects of self-efficacy and mastery motivation. It was observed that preschoolers with higher self-efficacy beliefs displayed higher mastery motivation in the same task, and vice versa, thereby suggesting both constructs reinforce each other. Moreover, self-efficacy and mastery motivation exhibited during the mathematical game were significantly different from some other parent-child activities. Mathematical self-efficacy and mastery motivation were also positively correlated with 4-year-olds' concurrent mathematical outcomes, and the effects were domain-specific. However, 4-year-olds’ mathematical experiences did not predict their mathematical outcomes a year later. Nonetheless, with a larger sample size, an indirect effect through prior mathematical abilities may be observed. Therefore, preschoolers’ internal experiences should be highly regarded to maximise their learning experiences since they are correlated with preschoolers’ current mathematical abilities and possibly subsequent school readiness. The domain-specific hypothesis validated in this study also shed light on better teaching and parenting strategies such that a more targeted approach can be implemented to improve preschoolers’ outcomes in a specific domain. Keywords: Self-efficacy, mastery motivation, internal task experiences, mathematical outcomes, domain specificity, preschoolers