The Role of Adaptability and Personal Best (PB) Goal Setting in Students’ Academic Functioning: A Longitudinal Investigation from a Social Cognitive Perspective

Social cognitive theory (SCT; Bandura, 1986) proposes, via the triadic model, that the reciprocal relationships among environmental, personal, and behavioural factors are critical for human motivation. SCT’s triadic model operationalises factors via well-established “traditional” constructs (viz., social support, self-efficacy, perceived control, self-regulation, goal setting, engagement). However, as new and relevant psycho-educational constructs are identified, there may be yields in revisiting classic models to ascertain the role of these constructs within these seminal theories.The present investigation examines how two relatively novel constructs, adaptability (for self-regulation) and personal best (PB) goal setting (for goal setting), operate alongside the well-established constructs of the triadic model to predict students’ academic gains. Adaptability refers to one’s capacity to cognitively, behaviourally, and emotionally regulate in response to changing, novel, and uncertain situations. PB goal setting focuses on personally referenced and optimally challenging goals that individuals pursue to outperform past personal efforts.To investigate relationships among these factors, by harnessing the triadic model, the following processes were examined in one analytical model: (a) environmental factors (parent, peer, and teacher support) predict personal factors, comprising self-factors (self-efficacy, perceived control, adaptability) and self-strategies (PB goal setting); (b) self-factors predict self-strategies; and (c) self-strategies predict behavioural factors (engagement, achievement). Data were collected from nine Australian high schools across the 2014 and 2015 academic years. The T1 sample comprised N = 2,130 students in years 7-9, the T2 sample comprised N = 2,274 students in years 8-10, and the longitudinal sample comprised N = 1,481 students. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, multi-group invariance testing, and indirect effects testing were conducted to assess the model in the cross-sectional and longitudinal samples. Following validation of measurement properties and preliminary cross-sectional analyses, longitudinal structural equation modelling (the central analysis) indicated that social support (parent, peer, and teacher) predicted gains in adaptability and self-efficacy; adaptability and self-efficacy predicted gains in PB goal setting; and PB goal setting predicted gains in both academic engagement and achievement. These findings establish the viability of including adaptability and PB goal setting within SCT, as well as demonstrate their positive impact on gains in student academic functioning