Positive peer relations and academic engagement: Examining the role of teamwork

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Introduction: Positive peer relations have been linked to outcomes such as subjective well-being and academic adjustment. However, not all students seem to develop positive peer relations, such as students of minorities (Wood & Orpinas, 2020). Above and beyond social interactions, peer relationships are linked in the literature to school outcomes, such as academic achievement (Wagner et al, 2020), indicating cooperation is needed as a character aspect, that enhances this association of positive peer connections and engagement. However, most studies regarding character strengths and school outcomes still do not embrace the majority of world students (Nielsen et al, 2017). Therefore, the present study examines how teamwork may mediate the association between positive peer relations and academic engagement in Brazilian students. It was hypothesized that teamwork, as communal character strength, would mediate the association between positive peer relations and individual academic engagement.
Methods: Participants were 5.550 students of 4th and 5th grade from 60 public and private schools in Brazil (Mean age = 11.10, S.D. = 1.01; 49.7% female). Measures were obtained through a survey containing self-report items on sociodemographic data, teamwork (e.g.,. “I respect the opinions of my colleagues, even when I disagree with them”; 3 items; α=.57),), positive peer relations in school (e.g.., ‘Students respect each person's differences.’; 4 items; α=.78), and academic engagement (ex. “I pay attention in class”3 items; α=.71). Data was analyzed through structural equation modeling in MPlus v. 6.0..
Results: Model building began by creating latent constructs of positive peer relations, teamwork and academic engagement, and then testing for the mediation of teamwork, and last a multigroup comparison was used to explore gender differences. The model was a good fit to the data (χ2(78)=593.66, p> .05, CFI=.96, RMSEA=.04, SRMR=.04), and indirect pathways explaining the prediction of peer relations to academic engagement outcomes through teamwork were significant. The mediation also presented differences between boys and girls .
Conclusions: Discussion acknowledges the limitations of the study, and highlights how understanding the potential role of communal virtues, such as teamwork, can enhance the understanding of the association between positive connections with peers and academic engagement in majority world.

Authors

• Hellen Tsuruda Amaral, Universidade Estadual do Paraná
  Presenting Author

• Josafá M. Da Cunha, Federal University of Parana
  Non-Presenting Author