The major goal of the research conducted in our lab is to better understand the development of children's motivation in school. That is, we are concerned with why it is that some children persist in the face of difficulties in school, whereas others simply give up. Our prior research suggests that parents can play a major role in shaping children's motivation and ultimately their achievement in school. We are now conducting a series of projects to examine how parents in different cultures shape their children's motivation.

In the Middle School Motivation Project, we will be studying the role of parents in children's motivation as children enter adolescence in the US and China. We will administer questionnaires to parents and children living in the suburbs of Chicago and in Hong Kong over the course of the next academic year.