Culture influences basic motivational processes; however, Western theories of achievement motivation seem to have neglected the role of culture. They are inadequate when trying to explain student motivation and engagement across a wide range of cultural groups because they may not have the conceptual tools needed to handle culturally relevant information. Personal investment (PI) theory is proposed as a viable alternative that could be used across diverse cultural contexts. It designates three components of meaning: sense of self, perceived goals, and facilitating conditions as central to understanding investment in the educational enterprise. Moreover, it is an integrative framework that can shed light on both etic (culturally universal) and emic (culturally specific) dimensions of student motivation. Studies utilizing PI theory are reviewed revealing interesting etic and emic findings. Implications for cross-cultural research in educational psychology are discussed.

Despite the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) for university students to thrive in the future workplace, few studies have been conducted to assess and foster their intentions to learn AI. Guided by the situated expectancy–value theory, this study adopted both variable- and person-centered approaches to explore the role of supportive environments and expectancy–value beliefs in fostering university students’ intentions to learn AI. The data were drawn from 494 university students. In Study 1, the variable-centered approach of structural equation modeling showed the critical role of supportive environments and expectancy–value beliefs in promoting students’ intentions to learn AI. In Study 2, the person-centered approach of latent profile analysis identified three subgroups of students based on their levels of supportive environments and expectancy–value beliefs. Consistent with Study 1, students who perceived more supportive environments and higher levels of expectancy–value beliefs had stronger intentions to learn AI. We also documented the influence of study of field, gender, and year level on students' perceptions of supportive environments, expectancy-value beliefs and intentions to learn AI. The implications of these findings in improving students’ intentions to learn AI are discussed.

Grit—passion and perseverance for long-term goals—has been linked to a wide array of positive academic and psychological outcomes. However, limited research has been conducted to explore the association of grit with different indicators of well-being and psychological health. The primary objective of this study was to assess the associations among grit, meaning in life, and depression. There were 447 Filipino high school students who participated in the study. Results of structural equation modeling showed that grit was linked to higher levels of meaning in life dimensions (i.e., presence of meaning and search for meaning in life) and presence of meaning was associated with lower depression. Bias-corrected bootstrapping revealed that grit had an indirect negative influence on depression through the intermediate variable—presence of meaning in life. Theoretical and practical implications are elucidated.