Achievement Goal Orientations and Anxiety in Irish Primary School Students

A growing body of evidence has identified that the types of goal orientations students develop can be associated with feelings of anxiety. Goal orientations include striving to achieve a certain level of performance (performance) or striving to master an academic task (mastery). This thesis examines the relationship between student goal orientations and anxiety using a meta-analysis and empirical secondary data analysis. The meta-analysis identified the overarching correlations between different types of achievement goal orientations and school students’ anxiety. The findings indicated significant meta-correlations between anxiety and performance goal orientation and performance goal avoidance. The review identified the need for further research to examine specific contextual factors that might influence the relationship between students’ goal orientations and anxiety. The empirical research examined the relationship between anxiety and goal orientations in a large nationally representative sample of Irish primary school children using structural equation modelling. In addition, the study examined to what extent anxiety is predicted by goal orientation when controlling for prior levels of anxiety, gender, school type and age. The findings suggest that goal orientations vary depending on the type of school setting and gender of the student. The final chapter of the thesis explores the implications of the findings of the meta-analysis and secondary data analysis for educational psychology practice.