Examining the Relations among Early Adolescent Students’ Goals and Friends’ Orientation toward Effort and Achievement in School

Abstract

Research examining students' achievement goals has often excluded social constructs. A large body of research exists demonstrating the importance of relationships with peers during early adolescence. In this study the relations among eighth grade students' (N= 260) achievement goals and the orientation of students' friends toward academic effort and achievement were examined. Regression analysis revealed that associating with positively oriented friends was the strongest predictor of task goals, whereas associating with negatively oriented friends was strongly related to pursuing extrinsic and effort avoidance goals. Relative ability goals were related to the positive orientation of friends scale for boys but not for girls. Significant interactions between positive friend orientation and achievement level on relative ability goals were also found. Discriminant analysis demonstrated that the goal orientations students hold discriminates between their tendencies to associate with negatively and positively oriented friends. Implications for research are discussed.