What if I fail? Examining the association between avoidance motivation and research career intentions

Abstract

This study investigated how avoidance motivation, which entails a fear of failure and focus on avoiding negative outcomes, influences adolescents’ aspirations toward scientific research careers. Participants consisted of 245 high school students participating in a summer science enrichment program. Results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that failure avoidance relative to the conduct of scientific tasks was a significant negative predictor of research career intentions after controlling for academic ability, cognitive capacity to regulate general interest, and online versus in-person programming implemented before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of post hoc probing also revealed a significant interaction between failure avoidance and inconsistency of interest whereby participants with low inconsistency of interest and high failure avoidance reported the lowest level of research career intentions. Our findings aim to inform strategies to support sustained engagement and motivation among prospective science undergraduates, contributing to the broader discourse on science career development.