Modeling the mediating role of anxiety caused by Covid-19 in the relationship between identity styles and student achievement motivation

In every educational system, the degree of motivation and academic progress of students is one of the indicators of success in scientific activities. The aim of the present study was to model the mediating role of anxiety caused by Covid-19 in the relationship between identity styles and students' motivation to progress.

The research design was correlational. The statistical population included all female students of the second year of high school in the 3rd district of Tehran in 2022. The participants were 330 students who were selected by cluster random sampling method. All of them responded to the Hermans (1977) Achievement Motivation Questionnaire, Brozensky's Identity Styles (1989), and Alipour et al.'s Covid-19 Anxiety (2021). Data were analyzed with SPSS24 and Smart PLS 4 software and with structural equation modeling.

The results showed that progress motivation had a positive and significant relationship with the variables of informational, normative and commitment identity style (P<0.01). Progress motivation showed a negative and significant relationship with the variables of avoidant identity style (P<0.01) and Covid-19 physical anxiety (P<0.05). Avoidant identity style showed a positive and significant relationship with mental anxiety of Covid-19 (P<0.05). No significant relationship was observed between informational, normative and commitment identity styles and physical and mental anxiety of Covid-19. Covid-19 anxiety did not play a mediating role between identity styles and achievement motivation.

It can be concluded that the model of mediating the role of anxiety caused by Covid-19 in the relationship between identity styles and students' motivation to progress was not confirmed. Pay attention to the components of developing commitment, informational and normative identity styles in developing motivation for progress.