The effect of gender and grade level differences on achievement goal orientations of Iranian undergraduate students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of gender and grade level differences on goal orientations of undergraduate students in an Iranian university. The sample consisted of 302 Iranian students at Shiraz University (64% were females; Mean age = 20.78 years, SD = 1.58), selected by random cluster sampling. They completed achievement goal questionnaire. Results showed the effect of gender and grade level differences on undergraduates' goal orientations. The results gave support to the some western findings that males have a greater performance-approach goal orientation than females. Also, last graders reported higher scores on mastery goal orientation than first graders. There was no significant interaction effect of gender and grade level. © 2009 Asian Network for Scientific Information.