Article of Interest
Relationships Among Impulsivity, Achievement Goal Motivation, and the Music Practice of High School Wind Players
Published in No. 180, Spring 2009
Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to investigate relationships among impulsivity, achievement goal motivation, and the performance achievement of high school wind players (N = 60). An additional purpose was to examine how impulsivity and achievement goal motivation were related to observed practice behaviors. Subjects practiced in three, 25-minute sessions and completed the Eysenck Impulsiveness7 Questionnaire (Eysenck, Pearson, Easting, & Allsop, 1985) as well as a researcher-adaptation of the Elliot and McGregor (2001) 2 X 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire. Reliability for the impulsivity and achievement goal sub-scales, performance ratings, and observed behaviors ranged from adequate to excellent. Results showed significant (p < .01) curvilinear growth in performance achievement with rapid gains made across day one, a peak in the rate of improvement at day two, and a plateau at day three. Impulsiveness, venturesomeness, and mastery-approach motivation were significant predictors of performance achievement. Multi-level model analyses indicated that including venturesomeness and mastery-approach as simultaneous predictors explained 19% of the variance among subjects’ initial performance achievement scores. Small correlations were detected between impulsiveness and the behaviors whole-part-whole and slowing and between mastery-goal motivation and skipping directly to or just before the critical musical sections of the etude.
