Allison M. Ryan

The Classroom Social Environment and Changes in Adolescents’ Motivation and Engagement During Middle School:

The authors investigated how students’ (N = 233) perceptions of the social environment of their eighth-grade classroom related to changes in motivation and engagement when they moved from seventh to eighth grade. In general, prior motivation and engagement were strong predictors of subsequent motivation and engagement, whereas gender, race, and prior achievement were not related to changes in motivation or engagement. A higher-order classroom social environment factor accounted for significant changes in all motivation and engagement outcomes. Four distinct dimensions of the social environment were differentially important in explaining changes in various indices of motivation and engagement. In general, however, students’ perceptions of teacher support, and the teacher as promoting interaction and mutual respect were related to positive changes in their motivation and engagement. Students’ perceptions of the teacher as promoting performance goals were related to negative changes in student motivation and engagement. Implications for recent educational reform initiatives were also discussed.

Peer Groups as a Context for the Socialization of Adolescents' Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement in School

Examining the extent, nature, and scope of peer group influence on academic outcomes is an important direction for future research to enrich our understanding of adolescent motivation, engagement, and achievement. Conceptual and methodological issues involved in studying peer groups are discussed. Existing research that addresses the influence of peer groups on academic outcomes is reviewed. Processes of how peer groups socialize achievement beliefs and behaviors are considered. Promising directions for future research are discussed.

A Qualitative Exploration of Adolescents’ Commitment to Athletics and the Arts:

This study sought to enhance, through qualitative methods, an understanding of the factors that influence adolescents’commitments to extracurricular activities over time. We obtained semistructured interview data from 41 adolescents who had been highly involved in athletics or the arts since middle childhood. We examined their interpretations of the factors that supported or hindered their continued involvement in these activities over the years. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that psychological factors, perceptions of the context, and emerging identity all played a role in decisions to remain involved or quit. Perceived competence and peer relationships emerged as important psychological factors, whereas perceptions of challenge and costs and benefits were important contextual influences. We discuss implications of the findings for the implementation of extracurricular programs that support adolescent development.

Social Achievement Goals: The Nature and Consequences of Different Orientations Toward Social Competence

The proposition that achievement goals are applicable to the social domain was examined in four studies. Study 1 established that different orientations toward developing or demonstrating social competence can be seen in individuals’ responses to open-ended questions about their social goals and social competence. Studies 2 through 4 evaluated a new survey measure of social achievement goals. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the hypothesized model of social achievement goals. Convergent and discriminant validity for the new measure of social achievement goals was established. In line with hypotheses, a social development goal was associated with adjustment and a social demonstration-avoid goal was associated with maladjustment both concurrently and longitudinally. A social development goal also was positively related to instructor ratings of students’ social adjustment in small classroom settings. A social demonstration-approach goal was most often unrelated to adjustment. The importance of social achievement goals for a comprehensive understanding of social motivation and adjustment is discussed.

Differential Profiles of Students Identified by Their Teacher as Having Avoidant, Appropriate, or Dependent Help-Seeking Tendencies in the Classroom.

In Study 1, teachers identified 6th-grade students (N = 844) as having 1 of 3 help-seeking behavioral tendencies in the classroom: avoidant, appropriate, or dependent. More students were identified as having appropriate (65%) than avoidant (22%) or dependent (13%) help-seeking tendencies. Student self-reports of help avoidance were in line with teacher reports. In Study 2, students displaying different help-seeking tendencies in math class differed from each other in self-reported motivational, affective, relational, and achievement-related ways. In general, avoidant help seekers had a more maladaptive profile compared with appropriate help seekers. In general, dependent help seekers had an adaptive profile regarding social relationships (similar to appropriate help seekers) but a maladaptive profile regarding anxiety, academic efficacy, and achievement (similar to avoidant help seekers).

The role of goals and affect in working memory functioning

Abstract This study investigated the direct and mediated effects of mastery and performance goals, negative affect, and task-irrelevant thoughts on working memory in a sample of undergraduates ( N = 177). Results indicated that negative affect mediated the positive relation between mastery goals and working memory; students with mastery goals reported decreased negative affect, which in turn was related to enhanced working-memory functioning. In contrast, performance goals had a negative indirect relation to working memory by increasing negative affect. After controlling for negative affect, there was also a positive relation between performance goals and working memory for males, but not for females. Finally, task-irrelevant thoughts were not a significant predictor of working memory when negative affect was in the model, and were subsequently removed from the model. Implications for the relation between achievement goals, working memory, and cognitive outcomes are discussed.

Students’ Motivation for Standardized Math Exams:

The recent No Child Left Behind legislation has defined a vital role for large-scale assessment in determining whether students are learning. Given this increased role of standardized testing as a means of accountability, the purpose of this article is to consider how individual differences in motivational and psychological processes may contribute to performance on high-stakes math assessments. The authors consider individual differences in processes that prior research has found to be important to achievement: achievement goals, value, self-concept, self-efficacy, test anxiety, and cognitive processes. The authors present excerpts from interviews with eighth-grade test takers to illustrate these different achievement-related motivational beliefs, affect, and cognitive processing. Implications for future research studying the situational pressures involved in high-stakes assessments are discussed.

Social Goals, Social Behavior, and Social Status in Middle Childhood.

This study examines motivational precursors of social status and the applicability of a dual-component model of social competence to middle childhood. Concurrent and longitudinal relationships between self-reported social goals (social development, demonstration-approach, demonstration-avoid goal orientations), teacher-rated prosocial and aggressive behavior, and peer nominations of social status (preference, popularity) were examined over the course of an academic year among 980 3rd- to 5th-grade children. Findings support dual-component expectations. Confirmatory factor analyses verified the expected 3-factor structure of social goals and 2-factor structure of social status. Structural equation modeling (SEM) found that (a) social development goals were associated with prosocial behavior and increased preference, and (b) demonstration-approach goals were associated with aggressive behavior and increased popularity. Demonstration-avoid goals were associated with a popularity decrease. SEMs were invariant across grade, gender, and ethnicity. Discussion concerns the potential risks of high social status, extensions to the dual-component model, and the generality of an achievement goal approach to child social development.

An Examination of Stereotype Threat Effects on Girls' Mathematics Performance

Stereotype threat has been proposed as 1 potential explanation for the gender difference in standardized mathematics test performance among high-performing students. At present, it is not entirely clear how susceptibility to stereotype threat develops, as empirical evidence for stereotype threat effects across the school years is inconsistent. In a series of 3 studies, with a total sample of 931 students, we investigated stereotype threat effects during childhood and adolescence. Three activation methods were used, ranging from implicit to explicit. Across studies, we found no evidence that the mathematics performance of school-age girls was impacted by stereotype threat. In 2 of the studies, there were gender differences on the mathematics assessment regardless of whether stereotype threat was activated. Potential reasons for these findings are discussed, including the possibility that stereotype threat effects only occur in very specific circumstances or that they are in fact occurring all the time. We also address the possibility that the literature regarding stereotype threat in children is subject to publication bias.

Early Adolescent Friendships and Academic Adjustment: Examining Selection and Influence Processes With Longitudinal Social Network Analysis

This study investigated early adolescent friendship selection and social influence with regard to academic motivation (self-efficacy and intrinsic value), engagement (effortful and disruptive behavior), and achievement (GPA calculated from report card grades) among 6th graders (N = 587, 50% girls at Wave 1; N = 576, 52% girls at Wave 2) followed from fall to spring within 1 academic year. A stochastic actor-based model of social network analysis was used to overcome methodological limitations of prior research on friends, peer groups, and academic adjustment. Evidence that early adolescents sought out friends who were similar to themselves (selection) was found in regard to academic self-efficacy, and a similar trend was found for achievement. Evidence that friends became more similar to their friends over time (influence) was found for all aspects of academic adjustment except academic self-efficacy. Collectively, results indicate that selection effects were not as pervasive as influence effects in explaining similarity among friends in academic adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).