Follow-up study on the development of achievement-related motives

This study was undertaken as a follow-up of Romer's research on the development of achievement-related motives (see Romer, A030). The research was an attempt to replicate and extend Romer's original investigation of developmental aspects of motivation and performance. The participants were White, middle-class male (N=60) and female (N=54) high school students. When studied by Romer, the majority of these students were in the fifth and seventh grades; fewer of the students in the 8th, 9th, and 11th grades at the time of the original study were followed-up. The same psychological measures used by Romer were readministered by means of a mailed set of instruments (although to increase the response rate some questionnaire data were collected in face-to-face interviews). The measures were five Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) projective story cues, the Broverman Sex Role Questionnaire, the Debilitating Anxiety Questionnaire, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. The Bem Sex Role Questionnaire was also administered and participants were asked to respond to questions regarding their educational, occupational, social and family experiences and attitudes. Romer's study could not be fully replicated because too few participants attended the performance sessions; none of the performance data is archived at the center. The Murray Center has acquired the following materials from this data set: typed TAT stories, copies of completed questionnaires, and computer-accessible data. Romer's original data are also held by the Murray Center and are archived separately. Follow-up studies may be done with the permission of the researcher.