The essential role of peer relationships in students' motivation during adolescence

Mid-adolescence is a critical developmental stage during which peer relationships become increasingly important, while academic motivation tends to reach its nadir. Although positive peer relationships are known to promote students' motivation and that high motivation can benefit more positive social behaviours, no studies have examined this association reciprocally over time.

Accordingly, this study aimed to test the potential reciprocal relationship between mid-adolescent students' motivation and their perceived peer relationships in class by considering (a) different facets of peer relationships, (b) the peculiarities of peer relationships in high-track schools and (c) the quality of motivation in a differentiated way.

Questionnaire data from 779 high-track students from Germany (Range_age = 12-15; 57% female) were used to test the interplay between students' perceptions of peers as positive and negative motivators, the student-student relationship and the quality of motivation (i.e., extrinsic, introjected, identified regulation, intrinsic).

A latent cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) considering students' grades was run to examine the interplay.

The results of the CLPM show that students' perceptions of peers as positive motivators, as well as positive student-student relationships at the beginning of eighth grade, positively predict students' identified regulation at the end of ninth grade. In contrast, students' perceptions of peers as negative motivators negatively predict their identified regulation over time.

Fostering peers as positive motivators in school might be beneficial for fostering quality motivation in students, particularly for identified regulation. Poor grades can encourage the tendency to let peers exert influence as negative motivators.