Multiple Facets of Early Adolescents' Subjective Social Support: Implications for Classroom Engagement

• In Event: 45.025 - Looking at Motivation Across Childhood and Adolescence

Abstract

The present study incorporates multiple dimensions of early adolescents’ perceived social support, including peer-to-peer and teacher-student relations, as well as perceptions of the classroom social climate, to examine the relative influences on behavioral and emotional engagement in math and science. Participants were 898 fifth (n = 503) and sixth grade (n = 395) students nested within 46 classrooms who were 52% female and ethnically diverse. Using multilevel modeling, results indicated that both peer and teacher relationships are important for early adolescents’ behavioral engagement, but teachers play a primary role in shaping emotional engagement toward subject-area content. Both individual and classroom-level indicators explain variation in children’s engagement outcomes, highlighting the complex nature of social relationships that necessitate teachers’ consideration.

Authors

• Jessica Kilday, University of Michigan

• Allison M. Ryan, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor