This research examined the antecedents and consequences of kindergarten and elementary school students’ achievement behaviors. The aim of the research was threefold: first, to examine to what extent students’ achievement-related behaviors contribute to the development of their reading and math skills; second, to examine the extent to which students’ reading and math skills contribute to the development of their achievement-related behaviors; and third, to examine to what extent students’ temperamental characteristics contribute to their achievement-related affects and behaviors. Additionally, changes in students’ achievement-related behaviors across time were also examined.
Two Finnish data sets were used. The first data set was part of the Jyväskylä Entrance into Primary School (JEPS) study, in which 207 participants were followed from the beginning of kindergarten to the end of fourth grade. The second data set consisted of a sample of 153 participants of the LIGHT study. The participants were examined twice during the first grade of elementary school. The findings of the research suggest that students’ achievement-related behaviors and their academic performance form a bidirectional relationship: Good performance in reading and mathematics was related to students’ adaptive (task-focused) behavior in achievement situations, which further predicted better performance later on. In contrast, poor performance in reading and mathematics was related to maladaptive achievement behaviors (such as task avoidance), which predicted further poor performance.
Consequently, low-achieving students seem to be in a danger of adopting negative cycles of development. Furthermore, the results of the research showed that temperamental characteristics play a significant role in students’ achievement behavior: students’ temperamental distractibility was related to high task avoidance in achievement situations, whereas inhibition was related to high levels of anxiety and helpless behavior. The findings also suggest that students’ achievement-related behaviors show substantial stability from kindergarten through fourth grade, implying that the basis of these behavioral patterns is formed early on. In general, the findings of the research suggest that students’ affective and behavioral responses in achievement situations are influenced by their previous performances and behaviors, as well as by their temperament.
