MULTIPLE GOALS: PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILEAN STUDENTS

This study is based on the perspective that analyzes the goal content in academic settings in order to explain the motivation to study. The aim is to analyze the structure that the multiple goals present in Chilean students and their relationships with academic performance. This involves the study of the Goals Questionnaire psychometric properties and the contribution of different goals as predictive variables of the academic achievement. The participants were 1,773 students. Participants were recruited from the center and south of Chile at different stages of the educational system. Ages ranged between 11 and 50 years old. The instrument's dimensionality is analyzed with exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis and a multiple regression analysis. Three types of goals arise (social, academic and liability) that explain 20% of the academic perfoimance's variance. The highest contribution for prediction of student performance corresponds to the academic goals. Practical implications are derived and several lines for future research are suggested.