Understanding Socioeconomic Differences in Academic Motivation: Future Time Perspective, Self-Regulation, and Instrumentality Beliefs

The primary objective of this research is to examine the mediating roles of long-term self-regulation and perceptions of instrumentality in the relationship between Future Time Perspective (FTP) and academic achievement. The study also investigates the moderating effect of Socio-Economic Status (SES). The sample consisted of 572 third-year high school science majors selected through stratified sampling. Participants completed a comprehensive questionnaire that included the Future Time Perspective Scale (FTPS), the Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI), and the Perceptions of Instrumentality (PI) Scale. SES was assessed using parental education and household income indices, and academic achievement was measured using mean scores in three core courses: physics, chemistry, and biology. The conceptual model, evaluated through structural equation modeling, demonstrated a good fit for both high- and low-SES groups. However, a Chi-square test of model fit indicated significant differences between the two groups, suggesting that their structural relationships were not identical. In both groups, value and speed were associated with academic achievement, while the effect of connectedness differed across groups. The findings showed that academic achievement in both groups was influenced by value through PI and by speed through long-term self-regulation. Connectedness also affected academic achievement in both groups, but only indirectly through long-term self-regulation. In the high-SES group, connectedness additionally had a direct effect on academic achievement and an indirect effect through PI. Notably, these direct and indirect effects were not statistically significant in the low-SES group.