Katja Košir, College of Business Doba Maribor Sonja Pečjak, Department of Psychology, University in Ljubljana Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling?

Social vs. academic variables In the past regarded as two distinct constructs Recently Research: how social and emotional factors influence learning engagement and achievement Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling?

Social variables in learning motivation and achievement Contemporary studies (e.g. Kindermann, 1993; Ryan, Stiller, & Lynch; Wentzel, 1998): Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? SOCIAL RELATIONS: with teachers with peers SOCIAL RELATIONS: with teachers with peers academic engagement academic achievement academic engagement academic achievement

Student – teacher relationship Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? SDT: the need for relatedness From among all the dimensions of teacher’s behaviour his/her involvement is the strongest predictor of students’ academic engagement.

Relationships with peers Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Students that are more accepted by their peers are also more successful in school (e.g. Chen, Chang, &He, 2003; Guay, Boivin, & Hodges, 1999; Wentzel, 1993; Wentzel & Caldwell, 1997). The nature of the relationship between social and academic variables is unclear; mediated by emotional and motivational factors?

The origins of the research Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Both factors of academic achievement (relations to peers and to teachers) were seldom examined simultaneously. The relative importance of both kinds of relationships for academic achievement depends on students’ social development.

Research aims to test the following model: Well-being in school Relations with teachers Peer relations Academic engagement Academic achievement Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling?

Research aims Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? to establish the relationship between the social and the academic variables and between the relations to peers and relations to teachers in different school periods; to evaluate different methods of assessing social and academic variables in students.

Participants Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? 4th grade 424 students 49 % girls 8th grade 404 students 46 % girls 2nd grade of secondary school 331 students 52 % girls 1159 students

Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Peer relations Social preference Peer perceived popularity Friendship nominations Reciprocal friendship Perceived peer academic support Perceived peer personal support

Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Relations with teachers Teacher-reported preference to students Peer perceived relations with teachers Perceived teacher academic support Perceived teacher personal support

Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Well-being in school Teacher-reported well- being in school Self-reported satisfaction in school

Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Academic engagement Teacher-reported academic engagement Self-reported academic engagement Peer-reported academic engagement

Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Academic achievement Academic achievement (GPA) Peer-reported academic achievement

Results Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? SEM – Lisrel 8.5 The originally presumed model with mediating variables does not fit the data (RMSEA for the variations of the model ) Raykov & Marcoulides (2000): RMSEA .05  the fit is appropriate

Testing the model with mediating variables RMSEA for the variations of the model Well-being in school Relations with teachers Peer relations Academic engagement Academic achievement Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling?

Peer relations Relations with teachers Academic achievement Testing the model without mediating variables Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? RMSEA for the variations of the model

Testing the model without mediating variables Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? The fit is appropriate for the students of 8th grade and 2nd grade of SS For the adolescents, relationship with teachers has a stronger impact on academic achievement than peer relations: students that form positive relations with their teachers achieve better in school.

The analysis of correlations between manifest variables Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Academic achievement is more strongly related to relations with teachers than to peer relations in all periods of schooling. The correlations between indices of peer relations and relations to teachers consistently decrease with age.

Evaluation of different methods of assessing social and academic variables Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? Very low, even null correlations between indices of the same constructs, assessed from different sources. The correlations between different constructs, assessed from the same source, are higher than correlations between the indices of the same construct, assessed from different sources.

The model with latent variables with regard to the method of data assessment Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? The fit is appropriate for the students of 2nd grade of SS (RMSEA =.045)

Conclusions Interpersonal relationships and academic achievement – (how) are they interrelated in different periods of schooling? During adolescence, academic achievement and relations to teachers on one side and relations to peers on the other side are becoming less related to each other. Depending on just one source of data assessment in measuring students’ social and academic characteristics seems to be questionable.