Achievement Motivation: a cross‐cultural comparison of British and Chinese students

Abstract

This study investigated age, sex and cultural differences in achievement motivation. Subjects were a total of 764 male and female British high school and Chinese students aged 13‐55. The thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was administered to measure need for achievement (nAch). Results revealed that Chinese high school students had significantly higher nAch scores than their British counterparts. They also had significantly higher scores than the two older groups of Chinese students. Female subjects of both cultures had higher scores than males, although this difference was significant for British female subjects only. The results were discussed in terms of sociocultural and situational factors.