Role of Cognitively Stimulating Home Environment in Children's Academic Intrinsic Motivation: A Longitudinal Study

• Published in: Child development Vol. 69; no. 5; pp. 1448 - 1460
• Main Authors: Gottfried, Adele Eskeles, Fleming, James S., Gottfried, Allen W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.1998; University of Chicago Press; Blackwell; University of Chicago Press for the Society for Research in Child Development, etc
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic motivation; Adolescent; Adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Children; Children & youth; Cognition; Cognitive models; Early Adolescents; Educational Attitudes; Educational psychology; Environment; Families & family life; Family - psychology; Family Environment; Family Influence; Family, School, and Community; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Home environment; Humans; Intrinsic motivation; Learning; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mastery motivation; Mathematical models; Motivation; Motivation research; Predictor Variables; Preschool Children; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Pupil and student. Academic achievement and failure; Self Motivation; Socioeconomic Status; Student Motivation; Human; Social environment; Academic achievement; Stimulation; Cognition; Preadolescent; Parent child relation; School age; Motivation; Follow up study; Adolescent; Family environment; Child
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06223.x

The short- and long-term, and direct and indirect, relations between cognitively stimulating home environment and academic intrinsic motivation were investigated in a longitudinal study from childhood through early adolescence. Structural equations modeling was used to test the hypothesis that home environment positively predicts academic intrinsic motivation over this period. It was also hypothesized that home environmental processes would positively predict motivation controlling for socioeconomic status (SES). When children were age 8, home environment (comprising both direct observations and parent report) and SES were measured. Academic intrinsic motivation was assessed at ages 9, 10, and 13. Results supported the hypotheses. Home environment had statistically positive and significant, direct and indirect paths to academic intrinsic motivation from childhood through early adolescence, indicating both short- and long-term effects across these ages. Moreover, home environment was significant above and beyond SES. The findings revealed that children whose homes had a greater emphasis on learning opportunities and activities were more academically intrinsically motivated.