The impact of achievement goals on cardiorespiratory fitness: Does self-efficacy make a difference?

Purpose: The relationships among students' self-efficacy, 2 × 2 achievement goals (masteryapproach [MAp], mastery-avoidance [MAv], performance-approach [PAp], and performanceavoidance goals), and achievement performance remain largely unanswered. We tested a model of the mediating role of self-efficacy on the relationship between 2 × 2 achievement goals and cardiorespiratory fitness Method: A sample of 276 middle school students (115 boys and 161 girls; 91 sixth graders, 87 seventh graders, and 98 eighth graders), aged 12 to 15 years (Mage = 13.34, SD = 0.96), responded to the Achievement Goals Questionnaire (Conroy, Elliot, & Hofer, 2003) and Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (Gao, Newton, & Carson, 2008) referenced to the fitness test. Their cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed via the Progressive Aerobic Cardiorespiratory Endurance Run (PACER) 3 days later. Results: Structural equation modeling demonstrated an acceptable model fit to the data, χ2(2, N = 105) = 1.66. Self-efficacy had a