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for Latino (
0.24,
p<
0.001) students. Lastly, worry had a negative effect on
achievement for White students (
β
=−
β
=−
0.24,
p<
0.001) but no effect for Latinos.
Summary Findings
Scale reliabilities were generally satisfactory: For the total sample of 3,527 partici-
pants, reliability estimates of the measures ranged from 0.71 to 0.93. Confirmatory
factor analysis results for the total combined sample showed that the cognitive and
motivational factors of effective learning strategies were well defined in a nine-
factor solution and the results of the multiple-group CFA indicated that there was
good support for a totally invariant model with a nine-factor solution across White
and Latino groups. In terms of ethnic differences between groups, gender was
related negatively to prior knowledge for both groups, but Latino groups had slightly
greater relations among those. SES was positively related to prior knowledge for
White students but not Latino students. For White students, having a family with
higher income and more educated mothers significantly affected students' prior
levels of achievement, but this relation was not statistically significant for Latino
students. Latino students showed a stronger association between OTL and academic
efficacy than White students. For White students, the effect of prior knowledge
on the achievement was greater than for Latino students. The White group also
appeared to be more influenced by maladaptive help-seeking and worry compared
to the Latino group. Although both groups had positive effects of learning strategies
on GPA, the relation of White students was greater than that of Latino students.
Discussion and Conclusion
The results of this study provide support for factors that previous literature and
theory have shown to be important for self-regulated learning and the relation-
ships to motivational and learning strategy use. From an educational perspective,
this is encouraging news, since the motivational and learning strategies of the type
examined in this investigation are amenable to instruction and modifiable. This is
important because of a tendency of postsecondary institutions, as well as the field
of education in general, to consider low achievement a function of unmodifiable
student or family deficits (Bensimon, 2005, Valencia, 1997). While there is some
concern in psychological research about the tendency to focus on a limited range
of sociocultural contexts and populations (Arnett, 2008), there is good evidence that
there are similarities across sociocultural groups with respect to the motivational and
learning-related constructs examined here, as evidenced by the PISA international
data (Marsh et al., 2006). This is consistent with the significant body of research
findings that support the connection between motivational variables, learning strate-
gies, self-regulatory behavior, and academic achievement (Bandura, 1997; Deci &
Ryan, 1985; Zimmerman, 1990, 2000a). This does not negate the importance of
sociocultural factors, however.
