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Cited by 126Education, Achievement, and GiftednessGrit, Self-Efficacy, and MotivationMotivation and Self-Concept in Sports

Breaking the double-edged sword of effort/trying hard: Developmental equilibrium and longitudinal relations among effort, achievement, and academic self-concept.

Open access
Marsh, Herbert W., Pekrun, Reinhard, Lichtenfeld, Stephanie, Guo, Jiesi, Arens, A. Katrin, Murayama, Kou·2016·Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1037/dev0000146
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Abstract

Ever since the classic research of Nicholls (1976) and others, effort has been recognized as a double-edged sword: while it might enhance achievement, it undermines academic self-concept (ASC). However, there has not been a thorough evaluation of the longitudinal reciprocal effects of effort, ASC, and achievement, in the context of modern self-concept theory and statistical methodology. Nor have there been developmental equilibrium tests of whether these effects are consistent across the potentially volatile early-to-middle adolescence. Hence, focusing on mathematics, we evaluate reciprocal effects models (REMs) over the first 4 years of secondary school (grades 5-8), relating effort, achievement (test scores and school grades), ASC, and ASC × Effort interactions for a representative sample of 3,144 German students (Mage = 11.75 years at Wave 1). ASC, effort, and achievement were positively correlated at each wave, and there was a clear pattern of positive reciprocal positive effects among ASC, test scores, and school grades-each contributing to the other, after controlling for the prior effects of all others. There was an asymmetrical pattern of effects for effort that is consistent with the double-edged sword premise: prior school grades had positive effects on subsequent effort, but prior effort had nonsignificant or negative effects on subsequent grades and ASC. However, on the basis of a synergistic application of new theory and methodology, we predicted and found a significant ASC × Effort interaction, such that prior effort had more positive effects on subsequent ASC and school grades when prior ASC was high-thus providing a key to breaking the double-edged sword. (PsycINFO Database Record

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  • Initial attempts to study mediating processes in longitudinal designs yielded mixed findings with regards to the role of effort in the relationship between academic self-concept and academic achievement.

    “To our knowledge, initial attempts to study mediating processes in longitudinal designs (Marsh et al., 2016;Pinxten et al., 2014;Trautwein et al., 2009) yielded mixed findings with regards to the role of effort in the relationship between ASC and academic achievement.”

    From Motivation-Achievement Cycles in Learning: a Literature Review and Research Agenda (2022) · cites this paper as Marsh et al., 2016

  • Marsh et al. (2016) and Pinxten et al. (2014) measured subjective effort, in which students were asked to rate their own effort expenditure.

    “Specifically, Marsh et al. (2016) and Pinxten et al. (2014) measured subjective effort-i.e., students were asked to rate their own effort expenditure.”

    From Motivation-Achievement Cycles in Learning: a Literature Review and Research Agenda (2022) · cites this paper as Marsh et al., 2016

  • In almost every study investigating reciprocal motivation and achievement relations, the need for experimental designs in which either motivation or achievement is manipulated is raised as a suggestion for future research.

    “In almost every study investigating reciprocal motivation and achievement relations, the need for experimental designs in which either motivation or achievement is manipulated is raised as a suggestion for future research (Marsh et al., 2016(Marsh et al., , 2018;;Mega et al., 2014;Pinxten et al., 2014).”

    From Motivation-Achievement Cycles in Learning: a Literature Review and Research Agenda (2022) · cites this paper as Marsh et al., 2016

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Authors
Marsh, H. W., Pekrun, R., Lichtenfeld, S., Guo, J., Arens, A. K., & Murayama, K.
Affiliations
  • Australian Catholic University (AU)
  • Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
  • DIPF | Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education (DE)
  • University of Reading (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Developmental Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2016-08
Volume
52
Issue
8
Pages
1273-1290
ISSN
  • 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0599
DOI
10.1037/dev0000146
OpenAlex
W2398641304
Cited by
126
References
90
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2
FWCI
12.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CentAUR (University of Reading) (acceptedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (acceptedVersion)
  • Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Australian Catholic University
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (PE 320/11-2, PE 320/11-3, PE 320/11‐1, PE 320/11-4)
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (16H06406)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports
Keywords
effort, academic self-concept, academic performance, double-edged sword, reciprocal effects, mathematics achievement, school grades, self-concept theory, early adolescence, high school students
MeSH terms
Achievement, Child, Child Development, Female, Germany, Humans, Internal-External Control, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Models, Psychological, Motivation, Schools, Self Concept, Students, Mathematical Concepts

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