Relationships between perceived peer and teacher goals and adolescents' academic achievement goals - Psychologisches Forschungs-Kolloquium

Achievement goals can be defined as competence-relevant purposes or aims students aspire to in achievement settings and are associated with varied facets of students’ behavior and mental health, such as collaboration with peers, academic achievement and well-being. Therefore, thorough understanding of the factors that impact the development of adolescents' academic achievement goals may be beneficial for advancing positive student outcomes. Adolescents’ academic achievement goals are associated with their perceptions of others’ goals. Earlier research focused on perceived teacher goals, mostly disregarding perceived peer goals’ effects. However, since peer-group influence becomes prominent during adolescence, research on students’ perceptions of both peer and teacher goals should contribute to understanding achievement goals. Study 1 (N = 122) found that perceived peer goals explained more variance in high-school students’ achievement goals than did perceived teacher goals. Study 2 (N = 415) showed that perceived peer goals fully mediated the rela tionship between perceived teacher goals and students’ achievement goals. Study 3 (N = 358) employed a longitudinal design (students completed self-report questionnaires twice, six months apart) and found that perceived peer goals predicted performance goals, while perceived teacher goals predicted mastery goals. Finally, Study 4 (N = 472) employed social network analysis and indicated that classmates' goals were positively corre lated with all individual achievement goals, while close friends' goals were positively correlated with mastery approach goals and this association was stronger than with classmates' goals. Results highlight that teacher and peer perceived goals predict changes in students' achievement goals differently. Additionally, Simultaneous examination of achievement goals of all classmates as well as particular groups in the class may inform practice by directing teachers to consider focusing on groups versus the entire classroom when promoting mastery.