Social relationships and motivation in middle school: The role of parents, teachers, and peers.

Abstract

Adolescents' supportive relationships with parents, teachers, and peers were examined in relation to motivation at school (school-and class-related interest, academic goal orientations, and social goal pursuit). On the basis of 167 sixth-grade students, relations of perceived support from parents, teachers, and peers to student motivation differed depending on the source of support and motivational outcome: Peer support was a positive predictor of prosocial goal pursuit, teacher support was a positive predictor of both types of interest and of social responsibility goal pursuit, and parent support was a positive predictor of school-related interest and goal orientations. Perceived support from parents and peers also was related to interest in school indirectly by way of negative relations with emotional distress. Pursuit of social responsibility goals and school-and class-related interest in 6th grade partly explained positive relations between social support in 6th grade and classroom grades 1 year later. Continued research on the social origins of classroom motivation in early adolescence is needed.

Student-Teacher Relationship and Student Academic Motivation

“…The participants stressed that the teachers' support, especially in academic tasks, kept them interested in completing the task, while the lack of support often had the reverse effect. This finding is supported by Griffing (2006), Wentzel (1998), andDaniel andAraphostasis (2005).…”

“…Wentzel (1998) defined teacher support as providing emotional support to students, while Griffing (2006) defined teacher support as providing extra academic help and assisting students' personal concerns. Based on their studies, both of them concluded that teacher support has positive influence on enhancing students' academic motivation.…”

Do girls and boys perceive themselves as equally engaged in school? The results of an international study from 12 countries

“…Children and adolescents who report a higher sense of relatedness to teachers show greater emotional and behavioral engagement (Connell & Wellborn, 1991;Eccles et al, 1993;Furrer & Skinner, 2003;Gest, Welsh, & Domitrovich, 2005;Murray & Greenberg, 2001;Wentzel, 1998). Hence, it may be expected that the social and emotional support (i.e., care and concern) from teachers would be conducive to the development of student engagement.…”

“…The need for connectedness and belonging is universal across cultures, and the fulfillment of this need provides students with the required emotional security for active engagement in school. A cursory reading of the literature shows that support from teachers, parents, and peers facilitates student engagement in school (e.g., Chen, 2005;Ladd, Kochenderfer, & Coleman, 1997;Skinner & Belmont, 1993;Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Darling, 1992;Wentzel, 1998).…”

Developing and Nurturing Interesting and Researchable Ideas

“…Therefore, at least for some students, levels of support and acceptance from peers could not explain academic excellence. Second, I found that when levels of social support from families, peers, and teachers were taken into account simultaneously, the pathway from teachers' social support to student achievement was different from the pathways from parental and peer social support to student achievement (Wentzel, 1998). Teachers' social support seemed to have a greater impact on students' interest and motivation for schoolwork, whereas parent and peer social support seemed to have the strongest relation to students' levels of emotional distress.…”