A Study Of Relationships Among Academic Social Comparison,Goal Orientation And Academic Self-efficacy Of Middle School Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate students'academic social comparison, goal orientation and academic self-efficacy and explore relationships among academic social comparison, goal orientation and academic self-efficacy.Participants in this study were middle school students in Changsha(N=726). The survey administered during the autumn 2009 school year during self-study class. Data were analyzed using SPSS 11.5 and LISREL8.70. A statistical level of p<.05 was used for all tests conducted.(1) Significant differences were found for gender, grade level or school on academic social comparison, goal Orientation and academic self-efficacy scores.(2) Goal orientations correlated with each other. Positive correlations were found between academic social comparison and performance goals, up comparison and approach performance goal, up comparison and mastery goal, parallel comparison and performance goals. Positive correlations were found between ability self-efficacy and approach performance goal, ability self-efficacy and mastery goal. Positive correlations were found between behavior self-efficacy and approach performance goal, behavior self-efficacy and mastery goal. Negative correlations were found between avoid performance goal and ability self-efficacy, avoid performance goal and behavior self-efficacy.(3) Goal orientation and social comparison were strong predictors of academic self-efficacy.(4)Goal orientation mediated academic social comparison and academic self-efficacy.