Beziehung zwischen sozialer Akzeptanz, akademischem Self-Handicapping und akademischer Leistung bei Schülern in der mittleren Adoleszenz

The relation between students’ peer relations and their academic performance is well documented in childhood. In adolescence, the findings of the present studies are not soclear and are mostly focused on the students in early adolescence. The purpose of this studywas to examine the relation between different measures of peer relations (social preference, social impact, and peer perceived popularity)and students’ academic achievement, testing the possible mediating role of students’ academic self-handicapping. In addition, we investigated whether students of different sociometric groups differ in academic achievement and academic self-handicapping. 534 Slovenian students participated in the study. No relationship between measures of peer relations, academic self-handicapping, and academic achievement was found. The results of this study provide some evidence about the independence of social and academic performance in middle adolescence and indicate that the findings about its relatedness from childhood and early adolescence cannot be generalized to students in middle adolescence.Povezanost odnosa s vršnjacima i školskog postignuća u djetinjstvu dobro je istražena i dokazana. Istraživanja u adolescenciji nisu jednoznačna i uglavnom su usmjerena na učenike u razdoblju rane adolescencije. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je utvrditi odnos različitih mjera odnosa s vršnjacima (socijalnapreferencija, socijalni utjecaj i percipirana popularnost) i školskog postignuća te provjeriti medijacijsku ulogu samohendikepiranja.Također je ispitivano razlikuju li se učenici s obzirom na različit sociometrijski status u školskom postignuću i samohendikepiranju. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 534 učenika iz Slovenije. Nije dobivena povezanost između mjera odnosa s vršnjacima, samohendikepiranja i školskog postignuća. Rezultati istraživanja pružaju određene dokaze o neovisnost socijalne i školske izvedbe u srednjoj adolescenciji i ukazuju da se postojeća povezanost u djetinjstvu i ranoj adolescenciji ne može generalizirati na razdoblje srednje adolescencije.Die Verbundenheit der Beziehung zu Gleichaltrigen und der akademischen Leistung ist für Schüler in der Kindheit gut dokumentiert. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studien über Schüler in der Adoleszenz sind nicht so klar und konzentrierten sichhauptsächlich auf die Schüler in der frühen Adoleszenz. Das Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Beziehung zwischen den verschiedenen Maßnahmen der Beziehung zu Gleichaltrigen (soziale Präferenz, soziale Auswirkung und wahrgenommene Popularität) und akademischer Leistung zu untersuchen, und dabei die mögliche vermittelnde Rolle des Self-Handicapping zu prüfen. Wir untersuchten auch, ob es Unterschiede in akademischer Leistung und akademischem Self-Handicapping zwischen den Schülern verschiedener soziometrischer Gruppen gibt. Die Teilnehmer der Studie waren 534 slowenische Schüler. Es wurde keine Verbindung zwischen verschiedenen Maßnahmen der Beziehung zuGleichaltrigen, akademischem Self-Handicapping und akademischer Leistung gefunden. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie liefern einige Beweise für die Unabhängigkeit der sozialen und akademischen Leistung und mittlerer Adoleszenz, ebenso wird gezeigt, dass die Erkenntnisse über Verbundenheit von Kindheit und früher Adoleszenz nicht auf Schüler in mittlerer Adoleszenz verallgemeinert werden können

Competitiveness and motivation for education in academic self-handicapping

Previous research examined only the role of interpersonal competition in academic self-handicapping. Therefore, from the multidimensional perspective, the goal of the presented research on academic self-handicapping was to determine the role of (1) different attitudes to competition, (2) the reasons that motivate people for competition and (3) the reasons for avoidance of competition. We also aimed at distinguishing the roles of different types of motivation for education in academic self-handicapping, according to the level of self-determination. Participants were 748 high school students. In academic self-handicapping the results confirmed the relevance of distinguishing among different dimensions of competitiveness. Those denoted by selfworth protection proved to be more characteristic of academic self-handicapping than those depicted by testing one’s own limits and by high importance of the quality of task accomplishment. Regarding motivation for education, amotivation played the important role. Intrinsic motivation correlated with academic self-handicapping negatively, but extrinsic motivation showed no significant correlation. Important implications for refinements of pedagogical practice are discussed

Motivation for participation in competition and avoidance of competition: the role of the accuracy of comparative self-evaluations of academic performance

To investigate the role of academic achievement in the reasons for participation in and/or avoidance of competition more clearly, the presented research was aimed at assessing the role of the discrepancy between objective evaluations and subjective self-evaluations of academic performance in secondary school students. The differences between under-raters, accurate raters, and over-raters in their reasons for participation in and/or avoidance of competition were investigated. The study comprised 534 secondary school students. The results do not clearly indicate possible benefits of the positive bias; we found that under-rating may have some advantages in the sense of mastery orientation and self-improvement motives (upward comparison) in competitive situations. Concerning other reasons for participation in competition, as well as reasons for avoiding it, students were found to rely more on teachers’ objective measure of academic performance than on the (in)accurate aspect of social comparison information

The role of the different aspects of academic motivation and competitiveness in explaining self-handicapping

In the present research on self-handicapping, the goal was to examine the role of different types of academic motivation according to the level of self-determination. Since the existing research on self-handicapping has examined only the role of interpersonal competition, we also aimed to explore the role of different kinds of competition, i.e., the role of the reasons that motivate people to participate in competition, and the role of the reasons for the avoidance of competition. 748 high school students participated in the study. Regarding the role of academic motivation in self-handicapping the prevailing role of amotivation stood out. Intrinsic motivation predicted self-handicapping negatively, but extrinsic motivation proved to be a positive predictor. The factor structure of the Academic Motivation Scale only enabled differentiation of the reasons for education on the level of three basic types. With regard to the role of the different dimensions of competitiveness in self-handicapping, results show that those denoted by fear of failure and self-worth protection proved to be more characteristic of self-handicapping than those defined by a high valuation of the importance of quality of task accomplishment. Among others, our research suggests that by diverting students away from hypercompetitive values, functionality of self-handicapping can be decreased