An Expectancy-Value Model of the Role of Social Achievement Goals in Academic Help Seeking From Peers

• In Event: 33.064 - Advances in Social Achievement Goal Research: Evidence Converging From Diverse Settings

Abstract

Students’ social achievement goals are important for their interpersonal behaviors at school (Mouratidis & Sideridis, 2009; Rodkin, Ryan, Jamison, & Wilson, 2012; Ryan & Shim, 2008). Students may be oriented toward developing high-quality friendships (development), appearing popular (demonstration-approach), or avoiding appearing unpopular (demonstration-avoidance). One way that social goals influence learning processes is through their impact on students’ academic help seeking (HS) beliefs and behaviors (Roussel, Elliot, & Feltman, 2011; Ryan, Hicks, & Midgley, 1997). Understanding the association between social goals and HS can help schools promote adaptive social climates conducive to students seeking needed academic help.
The current study examines how students’ social goals predict their expectations, values and costs of HS, and their reported likelihood of HS from peers, framed within Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT). EVT posits that a person’s choice (here, whether to seek help) depends upon their beliefs about the value of the task and their expectation of task completion (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). These beliefs are influenced by numerous variables, including personal goals. Recent interpretations of EVT emphasize the role of cost (e.g., Perez, Cromley, & Kaplan, 2014), which may be critical in the context of peer HS because of its implications of incompetence and indebtedness (e.g., Karabenick & Knapp, 1991).
Students (n = 649) in a U.S. high school (grades 9-12, 51% female, 37% non-white) were surveyed at the beginning (T1), middle (T2), and end (T3) of a school year. Scales included development goals (T1, α = .91), demonstration-approach goals (T1, α = .85), demonstration-avoidance goals (T1, α = .81), values for HS (perceived benefits, T1, α = .77), costs of HS (perceived threat, T1, α = .81), expectations of receiving academic help from friends (T2, 1 item, M = 2.89, SD = .85), and conditional likelihood of academic HS from friends (T3, 1 item, M = 3.77, SD = 1.21). All items were on a 5-point scale except for students’ expectations (4-point scale).
A path model testing the hypothesized relationships indicated an excellent fit: χ2 = 1.68, χ2/DF = .84, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = .00, and SRMR = .01. The path diagram is shown in Figure 1. Development goals positively predicted expectations of help, value for HS, and directly predicted reported likelihood of HS. Demonstration-approach goals positively predicted value for HS and costs of HS. Demonstration-avoidance goals negatively predicted expectations of help and positively predicted costs of HS. In turn, expectations of help positively predicted the reported likelihood of HS, while costs negatively predicted likelihood of HS from friends. Mediational analyses will be included.
Results support the application of EVT and demonstrate that social goals matter for students’ expectations, values, and costs for HS, and consequently their likelihood of seeking academic HS from peers. The study provides empirical evidence that the three social goals are uniquely associated with beliefs about HS. Implications include the need for schools to foster students’ goals to promote relationships with their peers and reduce students’ concerns about social rejection.

Authors

• Kara A. Makara, University of Glasgow

• Stuart A. Karabenick, University of Michigan