Achievement goals, social goals and future expectations: the role of the family in shaping students' educational paths

The experience students make of their scholastic life is continuously shaped by a multitude of intra-psychological, inter-psychological, and contextual factors, that can either enhance or hinder students’ well-being, the quality of their life, and their life satisfaction both inside and outside of school. In particular, family influences have often been found to be one of the most important of said factors. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation was to contribute to the discourse on motivation in education. In particular, drawing from the Achievement Goal theory (AGT), its purpose was to integrate the existing knowledge about the antecedents and consequences of motivational orientations by considering their social-relational nature. Particular attention was given to the role of perceived parental goals and social goals. Three empirical studies were conducted. The first study aimed at analysing the relationship between perceived parental goals and high-school students’ expectations of further education. In particular, it aimed at examining how this relationship could be mediated by students’ achievement goals and social goals. The second study aimed at testing whether the same effects found in Study 1 would emerge for students attending the first year of upper-secondary school during the first months of the Coronavirus outbreak in Italy, when a lockdown was imposed and students attended school online. Finally, Study 3 aimed at analysing the relationships among parental perceived goals, students' individual and social goals, and students’ expectations for university students.