Social Relationships and Motivation in Middle School: The Role of parents, Teachers, and Peers

By Kathryn R. Wentzel

This article is about a study where the Ms. Wentzel observed 6^th grade students in spring then obtained the achievement data from the student’s files at the end of 7^th grade. The purpose of the study was to find where school motivation comes from. The focus area was on the social and academic goals that the students try to achieve in school. Academic goals were broken down into two areas, mastery goal orientations and performance goal orientation. Social goals were broken down to family cohesion, peers, and teachers. Another area that entered into social goals was how psychological distress effected the student’s motivation and interest in school.

The study used questionnaires that were Peer Social Support Scale, Teacher Social Support Scale, Family Environment Scale, a psychological distress scale, School Motivation Scale, Performance and Mastery goal orientation scale, Social goal pursuit scale, and interest in class scale. These questionnaires, scales, were mainly a 1-5 point system, where 5 is always, or the highest rating. From these questionnaires and the academic data taken later, the study concluded that supportive relationships with parents, teachers, and peers were related to multiple aspects of school motivation. In this article, there were many correlations such as family cohesion related significantly to motivational outcomes, and support from the teacher related to motivations except for performance goals. Ms. Wentzel also found that psychological distress was significantly related to school interest but in a negative way.

The article concludes that motivational processes are intrapersonal outcomes that might explain links between socialization experiences and academic achievement. Ms. Wentzel also concludes that many of the studies similar to this one were directed towards minority, lower class, inner city, or low achieving students, but the outcomes and needs are important for white middle-class students also.

This article went into show why middle school students are motivated. Middle school is a weird time for everyone. Students are maturing, while others are not. Students start making the decision of why they want to go to school. Friends become very important, as well as being “popular”.

The article says that when students form likelihood in something, they tend to form goals. This makes students more motivated. The biggest thing the influences students’ motivation is acceptance. Students love when teachers, parents, and friends are there for them. They have to be supportive of middle schoolers in order for them to achieve their goals.

This article did a case study in a middle school filled with 167 sixth to eighth graders. Questioners were sent out during class times to figure out what motivates students. The questions were based on perceived support from peers, teacher, parents, psychological distress, interest in school, performance and mastery goal orientations, social goal pursuit, interest in class, and academic achievement.

The data proved many points. One was that support from teachers helped students, especially girls. Perceived support from peers, and family cohesion also helped students be motivated and accomplish their goals. It was also shown that parents, peers, and teachers also played independent roles in young adolescents. This is because at this age students are trying to grow and find themselves out. Parents play a bigger role in motivation in children’s lives rather than young adults.