Talent in Transition: Motivational Development and Underachievement among High-Ability Adolescents Transitioning to Secondary School

Students’ school-related motivation lies at the heart of what drives students to (dis)engage and (under)achieve in school. Although underachievement is prevalent in cognitively high-ability students, little is known about their motivational development and how it compares to that of average-ability students. This dissertation aimed to further the understanding of the motivational development of high-ability students during the vulnerable transition to secondary school. First, motivational processes were investigated comparatively between high- and average-ability students. Second, distinct motivational profiles within the high-ability group were identified. Contextual predictors and educational outcomes of the motivational development were examined across studies.

In the first part of this dissertation, we investigated the motivational developmental processes of high-ability students, and compared these with the motivational development of average-ability students. We used the SiBO sample, a longitudinal sample of 5,740 students from 172 schools in Flanders. The first study used latent growth curve modeling to examine the development of learning goal orientation over the secondary school transition among high-ability (IQ ≥ P90, n = 630) and average-ability students (P80 ≤ IQ ≤ P20, n = 4,542) (Chapter 1). We looked at how relational quality and instructional clarity from teachers and learning goal orientation of peers predicted this development, and what the implications were for students’ secondary school trajectories. High-ability students reported lower learning goal orientation than their peers in the secondary school transition. Teacher and peer factors were similarly predictive of learning goal orientation development among both ability groups, and both groups experienced similar implications for their educational trajectories. The second study used latent change modelling to compare intra-individual change in math self-concept over the secondary school transition between high-ability and average-ability students (Chapter 2). It examined the role of class-average achievement in math self-concept change, and the implications of math self-concept change for (under)achievement, school well-being, and school trajectories. High-ability students experienced a steeper decline in math self-concept than their peers during the transition. Among both ability groups’ decline in math self-concept had a similar relationship to class-average ability level and to the majority of outcomes. Among the high-ability students, there was a stronger effect of math self-concept decline on their school well-being. 

In the second part, we aimed to identify profiles of students within the high-ability group exhibiting distinct patterns of motivational development during the secondary school transition. To address this objective, we made use of the TALENT sample, a longitudinal sample of 3,409 students from 166 classes in 27 schools in Flanders. Using a standardized cognitive ability test, 403 students were identified as high-ability (≥ P90). Chapters 3 and 4 aimed to test whether evidence for Snyder and Linnenbrink-Garcia’s Pathways to Underachievement model could be found among the high-ability students immediately following the secondary school transition. We investigated if the students self-beliefs (academic self-concept, academic self-worth contingency), value beliefs (attainment/utility value, task value amotivation), and entity mindset co-evolve in multiple distinct ways leading to underachievement. Using latent profile analysis immediately following the transition (Chapter 3) and latent growth class analysis spanning the first two years of secondary school (Chapter 4), the PUM theory was largely confirmed, as both studies showed evidence for distinct profiles of students characterized by Maladaptive Competence Beliefs and Declining Value Beliefs, respectively. In both studies, these maladaptive profiles generally showed more disengagement and underachievement when compared to high-ability peers with adaptive beliefs.

Within this dissertation, we demonstrated that high-ability students are not immune to transition-related motivational challenges, that their development is in some ways distinct compared to their peers, and that there is developmental heterogeneity within the high-ability group. Overall, the findings call for continued study of high-ability students’ motivational development, as well as for motivational interventions tailored to their needs.