Peer Group Embeddedness and Academic Motivation: A Developmental Perspective

The present study focused on the increasing importance of peer group embeddedness on domain-specific academic motivation (intrinsic value and mastery goals) over the course of early adolescence. In this regard, two important research questions were investigated: (1) Does a change in peer group embeddedness influence a change in student intrinsic value and mastery goals? (2) Does this influence increase over the course of early adolescence? The research questions were investigated based on a five-wave longitudinal study over two school years (seventh and eighth grade) in Germany. The final sample comprised 349 students. True- intraindividual-change models showed a positive effect of a change in peer group embeddedness in the first half of eighth grade on the change of all domain-specific motivational dimensions—except for intrinsic value in English—in the second half of the eighth grade. In the seventh grade, a change in peer group embeddedness had no effect on all motivational dimensions. The results were discussed in terms of taking a developmental perspective for both peer group embeddedness and student academic motivation.