Peer Group Influence on the Antecedents of Academic Coping over the First Year of Middle School

The motivational model of academic coping provides a framework for investigating the motivational antecedents and social contextual influences on ways of coping with academic adversity during the transition to middle school. Two studies were conducted to investigate the roles of three motivational antecedent variables of academic coping: perceived control, autonomous motivation, and catastrophizing. Study 1 investigated relationships between the motivational variables and academic coping across the first year of middle school. Study 2 investigated peer group influences on the motivational variables and on academic coping. Data from an entire cohort of 366 sixth students in the only middle school in a small northeastern town were used to investigate several hypotheses. Two sets of models were used to test hypotheses in Study 1, using structural equation modeling. First, a set of autoregressive longitudinal models was used to test whether students' motivational antecedents in the fall predicted students' coping in the spring, controlling for coping in fall. Significant or marginally significant relationships were found between autonomous motivation and two ways of coping, strategizing and self-encouragement. Second, two-wave bivariate latent change score models were used to investigate relationships between change in the three motivational antecedents and change in academic coping across the year. Significant associations were found between change in each motivational antecedent and change in several of the ways of coping investigated. In Study 2, autoregressive longitudinal models were used to investigate two sets of hypotheses. First, peer group averages of each motivational variable were tested as predictors of change in students' own levels of that variable. Peer group average perceived control in fall was found to marginally significantly predict change in students' own perceived control across the year. Second, peer group averages of each motivational variable were tested as predictors of change in each of several ways of students' coping. Peer group average perceived control was the only one of the three motivational variables found to predict change in students' academic coping across the year, and only marginally significantly for one way of coping, projection. Potential contributions, limitations, and implications of the research are described as well as future research directions.