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.

This study investigated the peer group as a context for the socialization of young adolescents' motivation and achievement in school. Social network analysis was used to identify peer groups of adolescents in middle school whose members regularly interacted with each other (N = 331). Actual reports from these peer group members were used to assess peer group characteristics. Multilevel analyses indicated that peer groups did socialize some academic characteristics, controlling for selection factors. Students' peer group context in the fall predicted changes in their liking and enjoyment of school (intrinsic value) and their achievement over the school year. Students' peer group context was unrelated to changes in their beliefs about the importance of school (utility value) or expectancies for success over the school year.

This research examined whether 5th-grade students' (N ϭ 602) perceptions of the classroom social environment (teacher support, promotion of mutual respect, promotion of task-related interaction, student support) were related to their engagement in the classroom (self-regulation and task-related interaction) and whether those relations were mediated by personal motivational beliefs (mastery goals, academic and social efficacy). Teacher support, promotion of interaction, and student support were related to both types of engagement, and those relations were fully or partially mediated by motivational beliefs. Relations with promoting mutual respect were not significant.

The present study investigated motivational influences on help-seeking behavior in math classrooms, focusing on early adolescents' perceptions of the benefits and threats associated with such behavior. Seventh and 8th graders (N = 203) responded to a questionnaire on perceptions of social and cognitive competence, achievement goals, attitudes, and avoidance of and adaptive help-seeking behavior in math class. Both threats and benefits were important influences on avoidance of help-seeking behavior, whereas only benefits predicted adaptive help seeking. Findings indicated that perceived threats and benefits partially mediated the effects of relative ability goals, task-focused goals, extrinsic goals, and perceptions of cognitive competence on avoidance of help seeking. Perceived benefits partially mediated the effects of task-focused goals on adaptive help seeking. Social competence had an indirect effect on avoidance of help seeking. Results illustrate the importance of Unking cognitive, motivational, and social characteristics of students to provide a fuller understanding of adolescent help seeking in math.