| This dissertation is a multi-method, multi-site, longitudinal examination of the 2 x 2 achievement goals framework in the field of sports, specifically college swimming. Study 1 quantitatively assesses the four achievement goals (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance) at both the individual and perceived contextual level. A new scale assessing mastery-avoidance goals was developed for the current study, as well as a new approach to standardizing the achievement measure that allowed for various comparisons to be made across swimming stroke, event distance, and gender. Structural models examining the influence of achievement goals on various affective, strategy, and achievement variables support the validity of the new mastery-avoidance goal measure, and provide some support for the multiple goals hypothesis that negative outcomes previously associated with performance goals may primarily be limited to the avoidance component of the goal. Support for a 2 x 2 model of perceived goal structure and subsequent influence on individuals' personal goals is also presented.; Study 2 focuses on the mastery-avoidance goal construct and utilizes qualitative interviews with individuals identified as endorsing high levels of the goal. Interviews were conducted and analyzed using grounded theory (GT) methods, and indicate that although individuals endorsing mastery-avoidance goals use the same standards by which they judge whether they achieve their goal, their reasons for engaging in achievement-related behaviors in the first place may differ. These reasons may then differentially predict subsequent motivation and performance. These findings highlight the importance of assessing both standards and reasons behind achievement goals, and have implications for whether existing survey measures assessing mastery-avoidance goals---and perhaps even other goal measures as well---are comprehensive enough to fully capture these important dimensions. |
