EXAMINING THE RELATIONS AMONG EARLY ADOLESCENT STUDENTS GOALS AND FRIENDS ORIENTATION TOWARD EFFORT AND ACHIEVEMENT IN SCHOOL

Research examining students' achievement goals has often excluded soci al constructs. A large body of research exists demonstrating the impor tance of relationships with peers during early adolescence. In this st udy the relations among eighth grade students' (N = 260) achievement g oals and the orientation of students' friends toward academic effort a nd achievement were examined. Regression analysis revealed that associ ating with positively oriented friends was the strongest predictor of task goals, whereas associating with negatively oriented friends was s trongly related to pursuing extrinsic and effort avoidance goals. Rela tive ability goals were related to the positive orientation of friends scale for boys but not for girls. Significant interactions between po sitive friend orientation and achievement level on relative ability go als were also found. Discriminant analysis demonstrated that the goal orientations students hold discriminates between their tendencies to a ssociate with negatively and positively oriented friends. Implications for research are discussed. (C) 1997 Academic Press.