Agency, control and means-ends beliefs about school performance in school-children: Cross-cultural study

The development of school performance-related agency, control, and means-ends beliefs and their link with academic performance in Moscow children (grades 2-6, N= =551) using the «Control, Agency and Means-Ends Inventory» (CAMI) were studied. Results revealed much intercultural convergence with Western samples, coupled with context-specific variations. Similarities involved (a) the CAMI factor structure, (b) the correlational nexus between beliefs and school achievement, (c) developmental trends across middle childhood, and (d) the configuration of means-ends beliefs. Differences involved developmental variations in beliefs about (a) teachers (e.g. an age-related decrease in perceived accessibility of teachers), (b) the role and accessibility of ability (e.g. high levels of agency beliefs but low levels of means-ends beliefs) and (c) gender differences in the agency/control beliefs (i.e. girls were higher than boys). In general, Moscow children displayed a Western-like view of the causes of school performance and of themselves as being agentic and capable of personal control over their performance outcomes; such patterns may stem from various features of the proximal school-related environment.