This study investigated the effects of status level and status congruence on achievement and satisfaction of junior high classmates undergoing same-age peer tutoring, thereby conceptually replicating an already published experiment with college students. There were 107 same-sex pairs who were formed so that the tutor had greater (the status-congruent condition), equal, or lesser initial math competence than the tutee. Two weeks were devoted to daily tutor training and tutoring, weekly reviews, and weekly assessments of achievement and attitudes. Then, partners exchanged roles for another 2week round of such activity. Two multivariate contrast analyses clearly support and cross-validate the prediction that satisfaction and perceived achievement (and in one analysis, actual achievement) are greater on becoming the tutor than the tutee, particularly if one was initially the more competent partner.In an earlier study (Rosen, Powell, & Schubot, 1977), we proposed that the status implications of role assignments in the special kind of helping relationship known as same-age peer tutoring carry with them the potential for inviting invidious comparison and felt inequity. As a consequence, the relative performance and morale of the tutoring partners would be affected. This thesis was investigated with upper-division college undergraduates of both sexes (mainly female) enrolled in several sections of educational psychology by means of the following procedure.
This field experiment, with an initial sample of 178 undergraduate classmates engaged in same-age peer tutoring, was conducted to test a theoretical model that attached greater desirability (a) to be the tutor than tutee and (b) to be in an equitable (status-congruent) rather than inequitable relationship. Same-sex pairs were formed such that the tutor had relatively greater (the equity condition), equal, or lower pretest competency than the tutee. Partners in half the'pairs exchanged roles for the second of two tutor-training and tutoring sessions. Overall application of the method of comparisons and multivariate analyses of variance clearly supported the model: Participant satisfaction, perceptions of good performance, and actual performance were directly dependent on becoming tutor and entering an equitable tutoring relationship.
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