Achievement in a Relational Context: Preferences and Influences in Female Adolescents

Abstract

Friends' influence on achievement‐related choices in female adolescents was investigated using the Thematic Apperception Test (H. Murray, 1943), in the context of self‐in‐relation theory (J. V. Jordon, A. G. Kaplan, J. B. Miller, I. P. Stiver, & J. L. Surrey, 1991). Two hypotheses were tested: (1) Achievement‐related stimuli will elicit stories with more unfavorable and conflicted outcomes than will affiliation stimuli; (2) Thematic representation of achievement will be more homogeneous in more highly cohesive peer groups. A multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures yielded significant results for Hypothesis 1. Thematic analysis of stories supported Hypothesis 2, showing peer group influence on achievement strivings in female adolescents.

Longitudinal narrative concerns of newcomer Latino youth.

“…Research coming from this tradition defines achievement motivation in terms of individualism, independence from family and interpersonal relations, or a need for "competition with a standard of excellence" (McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell, 1953, p.111). Research in achievement motivation from other, more relational perspectives, however, has pointed out the gender bias of a model based on individualism and competitiveness and has uncovered the relevance of interpersonal interactions, cooperation, joint family goals, and the self-in-relation (Novi & Meinster, 2000). Furthermore, when White American, middle-class values have been transposed to other cultures, the preservation of a familial or communal sense of identity has been interpreted as an impediment to its development (Carter & Segura, 1979).…”

“…This study is designed to gain an understanding of the ways in which Latino immigrant youth conceptualize their own aspirations and motivations and attribute success and failure in their new unfamiliar surroundings and how these understandings develop and change with time. Studies on achievement motivation in relational and social terms often use qualitative methodologies, including projective techniques (Asakawa & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000;De Vos, 1983;Novi & Meinster, 2000;Pollak & Gilligan, 1982;C. Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 1995).…”