The association between social goals and academic variables in school: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

School is a complex environment, in which students develop and maintain interpersonal relationships and participate in daily social interactions, whilst continuously engaging in academic activities and learning. The current systematic review provides a configurative overview of the empirical research which explores the association between social goals and academically oriented variables in elementary, middle, and high school. Web of Science, Scopus, and PsychINFO were searched for articles, with thematically relevant keywords. A screening of the articles ensued according to the eligibility criteria. We report a thematic synthesis of 27 articles published between 1993 and 2019. We identified 12 social goals, and categorised these into thematically similar groups, based on their orientation towards friendship, status, support, conformity, and competence. Our synthesis confirms that the social goal types have different associations with academic variables, which included academic achievement, school engagement and effort, as well as learning strategies. The significance of these findings are discussed, with an emphasis on the uniqueness of social goals and the need for clarity, structuring, and theoretical embedment of the construct. Social goals provide a novel motivational perspective, complementing and expanding previous achievement and social theories within the field.

KEYWORDS:

• Student motivation
• social goals
• systematic review
• school

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Naska Goagoses

Naska Goagoses is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Special Needs Education and Rehabilitation, at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany. From a developmental and educational psychology perspective, her main research focus is the motivation of children and adolescents in peer interactions and school.

Ute Koglin

Ute Koglin is a professor in the Department of Special Needs Education and Rehabilitation, at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany. Her research interests include the development of social-emotional competence and the prevention of behaviour problems during early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence.