Motivational Profiles of Teaching Self-Efficacy, Task Value, Perceived Cost, and Transformative Experience in Kuwaiti Preservice Teachers: A Longitudinal Latent Transition Analysis of Intentions to Quit

Student withdrawal in higher education is increasingly framed as a process in which intentions to quit may provide an early, context-sensitive risk signal, particularly in teacher education. Guided by situated expectancy–value–cost and self-efficacy perspectives, we followed 380 Kuwaiti female preservice teachers across three waves (920 person-wave observations; Full Information Maximum Likelihood [FIML]) to model longitudinal motivational profiles of teaching self-efficacy, task value, perceived cost, and transformative experience and to test links with intentions to quit teaching. Latent transition analysis supported four profiles: Thriving (41.1%), High-Cost (28.4%), At-Risk (15.8%), and Disengaged (14.7%). Profile stability increased within the later interval of the term, with earlier movement more often towards Thriving. Intentions to quit differed by profile (Wald χ ² (3) = 35.67, p < .001) and were highest in At-Risk ( M = 2.94), whereas High-Cost did not differ from Thriving despite the highest perceived cost. Mixed-effects models showed profile effects without wave or interaction effects, indicating stable between-profile risk.