Motivational profiles as a combination of self-efficacy expectations and academic goals in university students

Taking a person-centered approach, the main objective of this study is to identify possible motivational profiles based on the combination of academic goals (learning-oriented and performance-oriented) and self-efficacy expectations. Under the assumption that student engagement not only depends on the combination of learning goals but also the level of self efficacy expectations, a survey is performed on 1858 students from five Spanish public universities (average age 21) and different degrees. In line with previous studies, the results indicate that the profile in which learning goals predominate is associated with better results than others. However, the results of this study adds new information suggesting that self-efficacy expectations play a central role in the relationship between goals and performance. (C) 2015 European Journal of Education and Psychology. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.