Research on students’ motivation has shown that motivation can be enhanced or
undermined by social factors. However, when interpreting such findings,
interindividual differences, and intraindividual changes underlying students’
perception of peers and teachers as a source of motivation are often
neglected. The aim of the present study was to complement our understanding of
socio-motivational dependency by investigating differences in the development
of students’ socio-motivational dependency from early to middle adolescence.
Data from 1088 students on their perceptions of peers and teachers as positive
motivators when students were in seventh and eighth grade were compared with
data of the same sample 2 years later. Latent class analysis supported four
different motivation types (MT): (1) teacher-dependent MT, (2) peer-dependent
MT, (3) teacher-and-peer-dependent MT, and (4) teacher-and-peer-independent
MT. Latent transition analysis revealed substantial changes between the
groups. The perceived teacher influence on students’ academic motivation
increased from early to middle adolescence. Divergent roles of peers and
teachers on students’ academic motivation are discussed