Relationships between students' achievement goals and social positioning in the classroom

Background: Academic achievement goals are important for student outcomes, including their well-being, collaboration with peers, and academic achievement. Theory and research also indicate that achievement goals are linked to students' social context, playing a role in forming and maintaining peer relationships within the school environment. Aims: We examined relationships between students' achievement goals and their positioning in social networks. Specifically, we hypothesized that mastery approach goals are positively associated, and performance avoidance goals are negatively associated with social network centrality in the classroom. Sample: 472 high-school students (52% female; M_age = 15.71) from 23 classrooms participated in the study. Methods: Multilevel Social Network Analysis examined relationships between academic achievement goals and social network centrality calculated based on sociometric data. Results: Students with higher levels of mastery approach goals tended to be more central in the classroom, reaching out to more peers (out-degree), closer to their peers (closeness) and connecting classmates who are not directly connected (betweenness). On the other hand, students with higher levels of performance avoidance goals reached out to more classmates (out-degree) but were reached out to less by their peers (in-degree). Conclusions: Students with enhanced performance avoidance goals might try to engage in more social interactions with their peers, but these attempts appear to be ineffective. These findings help illustrate the contribution of achievement goals to students' social positioning in the classroom and provide insight for interventions to support both adaptive achievement goals and central social positioning in the classroom.