Teachers' goal orientations, causal attributions, and emotions: A longitudinal analysis

The current study evaluated the direct and indirect effects of teachers’ goal orientations on their causal attributions, and emotions. Practicing teachers (N = 536) from the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec were recruited to complete two web-based questionnaires (six month lag) including measures assessing their’ goal orientations, attributions to occupational stress, and emotions. Results of the present study provide empirical support that teachers’ endorsement of instructional goals not only directly influence their emotions, but also indirectly influence their emotions through the causal attributions teachers make to explain their occupational stress. Furthermore, results also underscore the importance of work by Butler (2012) in which social dynamics are incorporated as an important element of teachers’ instructional goals. Copyright © 2015 AERA.