Distinct roles of perceived teacher and peer relationships in adolescent students’ academic motivation and outcomes: Father absence as a moderator

Abstract

In the learning environment, both teachers and peers are influential social agents. In the present study, we differentiated between positive and negative aspects of teacher and peer relationships and examined how they predict adolescent students’ academic interest and self-concept, which in turn lead to different levels of academic achievement and subjective well-being at school. Additionally, we explored whether father absence moderated these predictive relationships. Results based on a group of 4274 Chinese middle school students revealed that positive social relationships were more closely related to interest, self-concept, and well-being than negative ones. The predictive paths from teacher relationships to motivation and achievement were stronger than those from peer relationships. However, peers played a prominent role in helping students with absent fathers build a positive self-concept, which led to improved achievement.