# Re‐Examination of the Reciprocal Relation Between Intrinsic Motivation and Competence Beliefs in Math Using the Random‐Intercept Cross‐Lagged Panel Framework

## TL;DR

This study re-examines the relationship between math competence beliefs and intrinsic motivation using a new statistical method and finds little evidence of a reciprocal link.

## Contribution

The study uses random-intercept cross-lagged panel models to address limitations in previous methods for analyzing reciprocal relations.

## Key findings

- Little to no evidence was found for reciprocal relations between competence beliefs and intrinsic motivation.
- The alternative RI-CLPM method was applied to two datasets, yielding consistent results.
- Findings suggest previous mixed results may stem from limitations in traditional CLPMs.

## Abstract

Previous studies employing cross‐lagged panel models (CLPMs) found mixed results regarding reciprocal relations between competence beliefs and intrinsic motivation. CLPMs have been criticized for leading to erroneous causal inference in certain situations. Two datasets were analyzed regarding reciprocal relations between competence beliefs and intrinsic motivation with the alternative random‐intercept cross‐laged panel models (RI‐CLPMs). One dataset contained 670 2nd to 3rd grade students (M = 8.80 years old, 98% white, 55.7% female) and the second dataset contained 542 2nd to 4th grade students (M = 7.96 years old, 76.7% native German speakers, no information on ethnicity, 50.2% female) in Germany. The results revealed little to no evidence for reciprocal relations between the constructs.