Educational interest has been shown to play a significant role in the selection of career choices and academic performance. Previous research has primarily focused on interests in particular subjects. However, it is important to note that learners can simultaneously develop interests in multiple fields. The purpose of this study was to clarify the network structure of interest in mathematics and science and to examine whether this structure differs by educational stage, gender, and self-identified academic orientation. A sample of Japanese high school and university students (N = 1310) was utilized to measure six interest components, consisting of value, self-regulation, and information seeking in both mathematics and science, and to estimate their networks. The results of the t-test indicated that high school students obtained higher scores than university students, males obtained higher scores than females, and those identifying as science-identified obtained higher scores than those identifying as liberal humanities-identified on the mean scores for value, self-regulation, and information seeking. Network estimation demonstrated consistent associations between self-regulation and information seeking across science and mathematics, and further indicated that the edges connecting the value dimensions of the two domains exhibited strong relationships. Network comparison tests identified significant structural differences between high school and university students, as well as between science-identified and humanities-identified students; however, no significant structural differences were found between males and females. These results suggest that differences in network structure exist among specific groups.

Authors:
Masahiro Honda, Meiji Gakuin University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Masahiro Honda is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Meiji Gakuin University, Japan.

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