Prior work has documented that internationally adopted youth can experience learning difficulties, yet research exploring academic motivation in this population is scant. Moreover, no prior international adoption studies have investigated precursors to motivation. Guided by expectancy-value theory, we attempted to address this gap in the literature by examining the role of two antecedents: ethnic identity (search and affirmation) and sense of school belonging. In doing so, we explored (1) the role of ethnic identity in predicting internationally adopted adolescents' (N = 251) expectancies for success and task values and (2) the extent to which school belonging mediated these relations. Path analysis results revealed that feelings of affirmation towards one's ethnic group positively predicted expectancies and values. Sense of school belonging also mediated many of these associations: ethnic identity affirmation predicted a stronger sense of school belonging, which in turn predicted more favorable expectancies for success and intrinsic value. Moreover, ethnic identity search was negatively related to school belonging. Implications for theory, parents, and education practice are discussed.

先前的工作已经证明，国际收养的年轻人可能会遇到学习困难，但是在这一人群中探索学术动机的研究很少。此外，之前没有国际收养研究对动机的前兆进行过调查。在期望值理论的指导下，我们试图通过研究两个先例的作用来弥补文献中的这一空白：种族认同（搜索和肯定）和学校归属感。为此，我们探讨了（1）种族认同在预测国际收养的青少年（N = 251）对成功和任务价值的期望；（2）学校归属在多大程度上介导了这些关系。路径分析结果显示，对一个民族的肯定感可以积极预测期望和价值观。学校归属感也介导了许多这样的关联：种族身份的肯定预示着学校归属感的增强，而学校归属感则预示着对成功和内在价值的期望更高。此外，族裔身份搜索与学校归属负相关。讨论对理论，父母和教育实践的影响。