Grade-Level Declines in Perceived Academic Support From Peers: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

Abstract

Prior research demonstrates that perceived academic support from peers positively predicts school adjustment. In this cross-sectional study, we provide evidence that perceived academic support from peers declines from 3rd to 8th grade and that this decline is partially mediated by grade-level declines in perceptions that academic success disclosures are normative and will elicit positive responses, especially among students who hold social demonstration goals. Discussion focuses on the importance of assessing changing peer norms for positive behaviors, including a willingness to celebrate peers’ academic successes.

Keywords

academic support peers grade-level differences academic success disclosures

Prior research suggests that children experience grade-level declines on a variety of indicators of school adjustment, including academic engagement, competence beliefs, and performance (see Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, & Davis-Kean, 2006, for a review). Although these declines may begin during the early elementary school years (Fredricks & Eccles, 2002; Jacobs, Lanza, Osgood, Eccles, & Wigfield, 2002), there is evidence that they become more pronounced during early adolescence as children make the transition from elementary school to middle school (Dotterer, McHale, & Crouter, 2009).

In explaining grade-level declines in school adjustment, considerable theory and research has focused on shifts in the classroom social environment. Much of this work has focused on changes in teacher-student interactions, including changes that may contribute to declines in perceived academic support from teachers. For example, compared with elementary school students, middle school students experience greater teacher control, fewer opportunities for student involvement in decision making, and fewer friendly and caring interpersonal interactions with teachers (see Eccles et al., 1993, for a review).

Considerably less attention has been paid to changes in peer interactions, including changes that may contribute to declines in perceived academic support from peers (Ryan, 2012). This lack of attention is surprising given a small, but growing, literature indicating that perceived academic support from peers positively predicts children’s school adjustment. Specifically, children who believe that classmates care about their learning, are available to provide assistance, and value educational success hold more positive school attitudes and perform better academically than children who perceive lower levels of academic support from peers (Patrick, Ryan, & Kaplan, 2007; Wentzel, Battle, Russell, & Looney, 2010).

The first goal of the current study was to document grade-level differences in perceived academic support from peers. Although changes in peer relationships are often implicated in models of declines in school adjustment (Eccles & Roeser, 2011; Wang & Eccles, 2012) and although there is some evidence that peer norms shift away from behaviors that are indicative of academic engagement and prosocial behavior during early adolescence, (e.g., Bukowski, Sippola, & Newcomb, 2000; Galván, Spatzier, & Juvonen, 2011), direct empirical evidence for declines in perceived academic support from peers as children make the transition from elementary to middle school is lacking (Hamm, Hoffman, & Farmer, 2012).

The second goal of the current study was to examine factors that might contribute to expected grade-level declines in perceived academic support from peers. Although research on the processes by which children come to feel supported by peers is limited (Hamm et al., 2012), a recent, ethnographic study provides some insights (Horvat & Lewis, 2003). Here, African American high school women who reported high levels of academic support from peers noted that they worked to surround themselves with peers with whom they felt comfortable discussing academic accomplishments and from whom they could receive encouragement and validation for academic successes. Consistent with these findings, recent empirical studies employing both adult and child samples suggest that interactions with others following positive events (e.g., academic successes) may play a more important role in predicting feelings of support and emotional well-being than interactions with others following negative events (e.g., academic failures; see Altermatt, 2015). In explaining these findings, Gable and Haidt (2005) note that social support following positive events is less likely to engender negative emotions (e.g., embarrassment or a sense of helplessness) than social support following negative events. Given evidence that early adolescents may feel more pressure than younger students to hide or downplay academic successes in their interactions with peers (Juvonen & Murdock, 1993, 1995; Zook & Russotti, 2013), we predicted that grade-level declines in perceived academic support from peers would be mediated by two factors: (a) grade-level declines in perceptions that academic success disclosures are normative and (b) grade-level declines in perceptions that friends will respond to academic success disclosures in active-constructive ways (i.e., with enthusiastic support).

The final goal of the current study was to examine whether peer norms for and peer responses to academic success disclosures might play a larger role in explaining grade-level declines in perceived academic support from peers among children who more strongly endorse social demonstration goals. Two types of social demonstration goals have been identified in the extant literature. Children who endorse social demonstration–approach goals are interested in fostering positive judgments from peers (e.g., working to be viewed as “popular”). Children who endorse social demonstration–avoidance goals are interested in eschewing negative judgments from peers (e.g., working to avoid being teased by peers). Because these goals are relatively strongly correlated (r = .57) and because both goals reflect a predilection to pay careful attention to feedback from peers (see Ryan & Shim, 2008), we predicted that both types of goals would moderate the expected mediational effects. Specifically, we anticipated that grade-level declines in academic support from peers would be better explained by changing peer norms for and peer responses to academic success disclosures among children who more strongly endorse social demonstration goals than among children who less strongly endorse these goals.

Method

Participants

Participants were 524 children (254 girls, 270 boys) in the third (n = 93), fourth (n = 77), fifth (n = 91), sixth (n = 87), seventh (n = 89), and eighth (n = 87) grades. All of the students attended either a K-5th grade elementary school or a 6th-8th grade middle school located in a rural area in the Midwest. The school district from which students were drawn was ethnically homogeneous (95.4% White); 53.4% of students received free or reduced-price lunches.

Two weeks prior to data collection, letters describing the study were given to all students to take home to their parents or guardians. One week prior to data collection, phone calls were made to students’ homes. If parents or guardians did not want their child to participate, they were instructed to return a form to their child’s teacher or to contact the school or the researchers at the telephone numbers provided. Six percent of parents or guardians declined to have their child participate.

Procedure and Measures

Surveys were administered during two 45-minute sessions. A trained research assistant read each item aloud to children. Children were asked to indicate their agreement with each item on a scale ranging from 1 (not at all true) to 5 (really true). A second research assistant was available to answer questions from children. Children were informed that their responses would be kept confidential and that their participation was voluntary. Absentees completed surveys during make up sessions.

Perceived academic support from peers

To assess perceived academic support from peers, we used the four-item subscale (e.g., “Other students in my classes want me to do my best schoolwork.”) of the Classroom Life Measure (Johnson, Johnson, & Anderson, 1983). Cronbach’s alpha was .83.

Academic success disclosures as normative

To assess children’s perceptions of the extent to which academic success disclosures are normative among their classmates, we used the three-item scale (e.g., “In my classes, kids tell their friends when they get good grades.”) developed by Altermatt (2011). Cronbach’s alpha was .81.

Active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures

To assess children’s perceptions of the degree to which friends responded to academic success disclosures with enthusiastic support, we used the three-item active-constructive subscale of the Perceived Responses to Academic Success Disclosures (PRASD) scale developed by Altermatt and Painter (2015). Children were presented with a common stem (“When I tell friends about getting a good grade in school, they usually . . . ”) and were asked to indicate how friends typically responded (e.g., “congratulate me”). Cronbach’s alpha was .80.

Social demonstration goals

To assess the degree to which children endorsed social demonstration goals, we used a measure developed by Ryan and Shim (2008). Social demonstration–approach goals were assessed with six items (e.g., “I try to do things that make me look good to other kids.”). Likewise, social demonstration–avoidance goals were assessed with six items (e.g., “One of my main goals is to make sure other kids don’t say anything bad about me.”). Cronbach’s alphas for the two scales were .85 and .81, respectively.

Results

Preliminary Analyses

Means, standard deviations, and bivariate correlations for study variables are presented in Table 1. These data provide preliminary support for the notion that children are more likely to report high levels of academic support from peers when they believe that academic success disclosures are normative, r = .58, p < .001, and when they anticipate active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures, r = .41, p < .001.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations.

Variable	1	2	3	4	5
1. Academic support from peers	—
2. Disclosures as normative	.58***	—
3. Active-constructive responses	.41***	.35***	—
4. Social demonstration–approach	.30***	.24***	.13**	—
5. Social demonstration–avoidance	.30***	.28***	.20***	.56***	—
Mean (SD)	3.20 (1.14)	3.68 (1.07)	2.90 (1.16)	2.63 (1.14)	3.28 (1.07)

p < .01. ***p < .001.

Grade-Level Differences

Grade-level differences in perceived academic support from peers and the two hypothesized mediators of this grade-level difference (i.e., perceptions of academic success disclosures as normative and perceptions of active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures) were examined with a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The multivariate effect for grade level was significant, F(15,1359) = 7.03, p < .001. Univariate analyses revealed grade-level differences for all three variables: perceived academic support from peers, F(5,494) = 18.91, p < .001, perceptions of academic success disclosures as normative, F(5,494) = 5.68, p < .001, and perceptions of active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures, F(5,494) = 7.92, p < .001. Mean scores by grade level are presented in Figures 1 to 3. Consistent with hypotheses, mean scores declined relatively steadily from 3rd to 8th grade. Post hoc t tests revealed that middle school students (i.e., students in 6th through 8th grade) reported significantly lower perceived academic support from peers, t(510) = 9.31, p < .001 (d = .77), significantly lower perceptions of academic success disclosures as normative, t(510) = 5.35, p < .001 (d = .47), and significantly lower perceptions of active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures, t(510) = 5.81, p < .001 (d = .51), than elementary school students (i.e., students in 3rd through 5th grade).

Figure 1.

Grade-level changes in perceived academic support from peers.

Figure 2.

Grade-level changes in perceptions of academic success disclosures as normative.

Figure 3.

Grade-level changes in active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures.

Mediational Analyses

A variety of methods for testing mediation have been proposed (see MacKinnon, Lockwood, Hoffman, West, & Sheets, 2002, for a review). The present study followed procedures detailed in Preacher and Hayes (2008) that allow the researcher to test two or more mediators at once. Specifically, this approach allows the researcher to determine whether an overall indirect effect exists (e.g., whether variables M₁ and M₂ together mediate the effect of X on Y) and to assess the strength of each indirect effect (e.g., whether variable M₁ mediates the effect of X on Y while controlling for variable M₂). A confidence interval (CI) is produced for each indirect effect. If the CI does not cross zero, the null hypothesis of no mediation can be rejected.

As shown in Figure 4, analyses supported the hypothesis that grade level (X) predicts declines in perceived academic support from peers (Y) and that this association is mediated by grade-level declines in perceptions of academic success disclosures as normative (M₁) and by grade-level declines in perceptions of active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures (M₂). The CI for the total indirect effect, −.0962 (95% CI: [−.1312, −.0638]), did not cross zero. In addition, neither the CI for the specific indirect effect for perceptions of academic success disclosures as normative, −.0646 (95% CI: [−.0960, −.0368]), nor the specific indirect effect for active-constructive responses, −.0316 (95% CI: [−.0508, −.0174]), crossed zero. The hypothesis of no mediation was rejected.

Figure 4.

Multiple Mediation Model.

To examine whether evidence for mediation might be stronger for children who more strongly endorsed social demonstration goals, we followed procedures described in Preacher, Rucker, and Hayes (2007). In the current study, we tested a model in which the b paths were moderated by social demonstration goals. Specifically, we predicted that the indirect effect of grade level (X) on perceived academic support from peers (Y) would be moderated by social demonstration–approach goals (V₁) and/or social demonstration–avoidance goals (V₂) because these social demonstration goals moderate the effect of perceptions of academic success disclosures as normative (M₁) and/or perceptions of active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures (M₂) on perceived academic support from peers (Y). In this model, moderated mediation is supported if there is a statistically significant interaction between the M variables and the V variables in predicting Y. Significant interactions emerged between perceptions of academic success disclosures as normative (M₁) and both social demonstration–approach goals (V₁), β = .12, t(500) = 3.62, p <. 001, and social demonstration–avoidance goals (V₂), β = .09, t(500) = 2.66 p <. 01, in predicting perceived academic support from peers. Given these interactions, we examined the conditional indirect effects of grade level (X) on perceived academic support from peers (Y) at low (1 SD below the mean), average, and high (1 SD above the mean) levels of social demonstration–approach goals (V₁) and social demonstration–avoidance goals (V₂). The results of these analyses are presented in Table 2. As shown, evidence for mediation emerged at every level of social demonstration–approach and social demonstration–avoidance (none of the CIs crossed zero), but indirect effects were stronger for students who endorsed social demonstration goals more strongly. For example, the conditional indirect effect of grade level on perceptions of academic support from peers was stronger among students who scored one standard deviation above the mean in their level of endorsement of social demonstration–approach goals, −.0817 (95% CI: [−.1224, −.0449]) than among students who scored one standard deviation below the mean in their level of endorsement of these goals, −.0442 (95% CI: [−.0719, −.0219]). A similar pattern emerged for perceptions of active-constructive responses to academic success disclosures, but interactions failed to reach significance.

Table 2.

Summary of Moderated Mediation Analyses for Indirect Effect of Grade Level on Perceived Academic Support From Peers Through Perceptions of Academic Success Disclosures as Normative.

	Conditional indirect effect		95% confidence interval
	Conditional indirect effect	SE	Lower limit	Upper limit
Social demonstration–approach
1.50 (−1 SD)	−.0442	.0129	−.0719	−.0219
2.64 (mean)	−.0630	.0153	−.0947	−.0345
3.78 (+1 SD)	−.0817	.0201	−.1224	−.0449
Social demonstration–avoidance
2.23 (−1 SD)	−.0527	.0129	−.0807	−.0291
3.29 (mean)	−.0657	.0149	−.0944	−.0366
4.36 (+1 SD)	−.0788	.0188	−.1184	−.0446

Note. Estimates of conditional indirect effects are based on 1,000 bootstrap samples.

Confidence intervals are bias corrected.

Discussion

The current study provides preliminary evidence for substantial grade-level declines in perceived academic support from peers across the six grades that bridge the transition to middle school. Although most prior research on perceived support has focused on the ways in which social interactions following negative events (e.g., a bad grade) might contribute to perceptions of support and emotional well-being, the current findings add to a growing literature indicating that social interactions following positive events (e.g., a good grade) may also play an important role (Altermatt, 2015; Horvat & Lewis, 2003). Specifically, grade-level declines in perceived academic support from peers were partially mediated by grade-level declines both in children’s perceptions that sharing news of an academic success is normative and in children’s perceptions that such disclosures will be met with enthusiastic responses. That perceived peer norms played a larger role in predicting grade-level declines in academic success disclosures among children who endorsed social demonstration–approach and social demonstration–avoidance goals is consistent with the notion that these goals predispose children to pay close attention to how their peers might evaluate their behavior. That the relationship between perceived responses to academic success disclosures from friends and perceptions of academic support was not similarly moderated by social demonstration goals is consistent with evidence that these goals may influence behaviors and attitudes in the context of the larger peer group more so than in the context of close friendships (Ryan & Shim, 2008).

Limitations

The current study employed self-report measures, a homogeneous sample, and a cross-sectional design. As a result, there is the possibility that associations between variables may be inflated due to same-reporter biases, that the results may not generalize to other populations, or that the grade-level differences here reported may be due to cohort differences. Importantly, the results are consistent with several longitudinal studies indicating grade-level declines in school adjustment more generally (Dotterer et al., 2009; Fredricks & Eccles, 2002; Jacobs et al., 2002) and with several cross-sectional or short-term longitudinal studies indicating changing peer norms as children make the transition from elementary to middle school (e.g., Galván et al., 2011). Still, future research will be important in replicating the patterns reported in the current study, preferably employing a more diverse sample and a longitudinal research design. Given that analysis procedures for assessing mediation (and, especially, moderated mediation) in longitudinal data sets are still in their infancy, such research will benefit from continued advances in the field (Selig & Preacher, 2009).

The current study also focused on children’s perceptions of the degree to which their peers engaged in academic success disclosures and responded enthusiastically to such disclosures. It is unclear whether these perceptions will align with direct observations of peers’ behaviors or with peers’ self-reports of their behavior. Prior research on perceived support and enacted support following negative events suggests that associations may be quite weak and that perceived support may be a better predictor of adjustment than enacted support (Gable, Gonzaga, & Strachman, 2006). Future research will be important in demonstrating whether a similar pattern of findings will emerge for perceived and enacted support following positive events, including academic success disclosures.

Conclusions

There is growing evidence that perceived academic support from peers is an important predictor of children’s school adjustment (Patrick et al., 2007; Wentzel et al., 2010). However, there remains a substantial gap in our understanding of the mechanisms by which children come to feel academically supported by peers (Hamm et al., 2012). The current study represents a first step in filling this gap. Given evidence that teachers can influence the peer cultures that develop in their classrooms, it seems reasonable to suspect that teachers might play an important role in delaying or minimizing grade-level declines in perceived academic support from peers by helping to shape classroom peer cultures that emphasize the value of celebrating academic accomplishments (see Hamm et al., 2012; Heyman, Fu, & Lee, 2008). In so doing, teachers may help to stem marked declines in school adjustment as children move through middle childhood and into early adolescence.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by Faculty Development Grants from Hanover College.

Author Biography

Ellen Rydell Altermatt earned a PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She is a professor of psychology at Hanover College. Her research focuses on peer influences on school adjustment.

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