Developmental Trajectory of Mastery Motivation in Young Children with and without Developmental Delay: Mini-Review

Pei-Jung Wang; Shih-Hao Wang

doi:10.37871/jbres1984

ISSN: 2766-2276

Medicine Group. 2024 August 30;5(8):1025-1027. doi: 10.37871/jbres1984.

Subject area(s)

Pediatrics
Psychiatry

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Mini Review

Developmental Trajectory of Mastery Motivation in Young Children with and without Developmental Delay: Mini-Review

Pei-Jung Wang^1* and Shih-Hao Wang²

¹Department of Physical Therapy, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan
²Graduate School of Applied Chinese Studies, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

*Corresponding authors: Pei-Jung Wang, Department of Physical Therapy, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan E-mail:

Received: 05 August 2024 | Accepted: 26 August 2024 | Published: 30 August 2024

How to cite this article: Wang PJ, Wang SH. Developmental Trajectory of Mastery Motivation in Young Children with and without Developmental Delay: Mini-Review. J Biomed Res Environ Sci. 2024 Aug 30; 5(8): 1025-1027. doi: 10.37871/jbres1951, Article ID: jbres1757

Keywords

Mastery motivation
Development
Developmental delay
Early childhood

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Abstract

Mastery motivation has been identified as key factor for future child competence in early childhood. Whether the development of children's mastery motivation is changeable or stable from toddlerhood to preschool age remains inconclusive. Thus, the purpose of this study was to discuss the previous findings of mastery motivation development and provide the insight into the future early childhood education program and research direction in young children with and without delays. We found that developmental trajectory of mastery motivation on each three domains might vary depending on the child’s phase of development. The developmental trends of mastery motivation differ between young children with and without delays. It is important to recognize that the trajectory of mastery motivation may vary depending on the specific domain. Therefore, early childhood educators should identify each child's strengths and weaknesses to promote and sustain their motivation to participate in daily tasks that are at least moderately challenging for them.

Introduction

Mastery motivation is defined as a multifaceted, psychological urge that stimulates the individual’s persistent attempts to master tasks that are at least moderately challenging for them personally, even if initial attempts are unsuccessful [1]. There are at least three domains of mastery motivation: cognitive (attempts to solve tasks or problems), social (attempts to master interpersonal relationships with adults and with peers) and gross motor (attempts to master physical skills) [2]. Within each domain, instrumental aspects (task-directed persistence that refers as a child’s focused and persistent attempt to solve problems or master tasks) and affect/expressive aspects (such as mastery pleasure or negative reaction to challenges) have been used to indicate mastery motivation behavior [3]. Mastery motivation has been identified as a key developmental concept, which should be included as a child evaluation [4]. Mastery motivation has been identified as a key factor for future competence in various developmental domains and executive function in children with and without developmental delays [5-12].

Barrett KC and Morgan GA [2,3] proposed the developmental trajectory for mastery motivation across three distinct age ranges: birth to 9 months, 9 to 24 months, and 24 to 36 months. They indicated that the behavioral characteristics of mastery motivation change rapidly as children age. Furthermore, variations in mastery motivation have been observed as early as the first year of a child's life [2]. The approaches toddlers and preschoolers take towards challenges and new experiences vary significantly; while some embrace challenges, others tend to avoid them [13,14]. To our best knowledge, whether the developmental trajectory of mastery motivation is stable or changeable during early childhood remains inconclusive. Thus, the purpose of this mini-review was to summarize the developmental trajectory of mastery motivation on three domains (cognitive, gross motor, and social) in young children with and without developmental delay during early childhood.

Empirical studies have shown that object mastery motivation in young children with typical development exhibited moderate stability between six months and 3.5 years [15-17]. However, another longitudinal study indicated that object mastery motivation increased at varying rates between 18 and 54 months. Specifically, children's object mastery motivation increased significantly from 18 to 30 months, showed very slow growth between 30 and 42 months, and then experienced a steep rise between 42 and 54 months [18]. In terms of gross motor mastery motivation, two longitudinal studies showed moderate stability in young children aged from 15 to 53 months [17,19]. Only one longitudinal study indicated that there was no stability of mastery motivation in social domain from 15 to 53 months [19].

Regarding the children with developmental delays, two longitudinal studies indicated that moderate to good stability of object mastery motivation in young children with global delays from 24 to 48 months [20,21] and from 48 to 60 month [22]. However, a previous study found no significant change in object mastery motivation from 18 to 54 months in children with language delays [23]. Wang PJ, et al. [21] conducted a longitudinal study that showed moderate to good stability of gross motor and social mastery motivation in children with global delays from 24 to 48 months.

A longitudinal study on the expressive aspect of mastery motivation in young children found that mastery pleasure showed moderate stability and no negative reactions to challenges between 2 and 3 years in children with typical development [17]. In contrast, for children with developmental delays, there was moderate to high stability in both mastery pleasure and negative reactions to challenges from 24-30 months to 30-36 months [21].

Conclusion

For children developing typically, object mastery motivation showed moderate stability during early childhood. The developmental trajectory of mastery motivation varied between young children with and without developmental delays. Further longitudinal studies are needed to explore the developmental trajectory of mastery motivation in the gross motor and social domains among young children with and without delays. It's important to recognize that the developmental trajectory of mastery motivation may vary depending on the specific domain. Therefore, early childhood educators should identify each child's strengths and weaknesses to better support and enhance their motivation to execute daily challenging tasks.