Examining the pathways of social comparison and achievement goals to academic grades among South Korean high school students

ABSTRACT

Social comparison is prevalent, even within classrooms, yet limited research explores its impact on academic outcomes. The current study adopted social comparison theory and achievement goal theory and tested a structural equation model that explained the pathways among two types of social comparison (i.e. ability-based and opinion-based), achievement goals, self-efficacy, effort, and academic grades. Based on a sample of 398 high school students, the current study demonstrated associations between opinion-based social comparison and mastery goals and between ability-based social comparison and performance goals. Furthermore, the current study identified different pathways for the indirect effects of social comparison and achievement goals that contributed to academic grades. The findings yielded the learning-oriented pathways and the performance-oriented pathways. The learning-oriented pathways showed the connections among opinion-based social comparison, mastery-approach goals, internal learning capacities (i.e. self-efficacy and effort), and academic grades; whereas the performance-oriented pathways demonstrated the connections among ability-based social comparison, performance-approach goals, and academic grades. This study implies that having a balanced mind-set between learning-oriented and performance-oriented approaches would benefit students most. Parents and teachers can play pivotal roles in nurturing students to focus on their internal learning processes within the competitive environment. The implications of competition-based achievement in classrooms are discussed.

추상적인

사회비교는 어디에서나 일어나는 보편적인 현상이지만, 사회비교가 학업에 미치는 영향력에 관한 연구는 부족한 실정이다. 본 연구는 사회비교이론과 성취목표이론을 채택하였으며, 두 유형의 사회비교(능력기반과 의견기반 사회비교), 성취목표, 자아효능감, 노력, 학업성적 간의 경로를 설정하고, 이를 설명하는 구조모형을 검증하였다. 398명의 고등학생이 본 연구의 참여자로 참여하였다. 연구결과 의견기반 사회비교와 숙달성취목표 간의 연관성, 능력기반 사회비교와 수행목표 간의 연관성을 확인하였다. 더하여 사회비교와 성취목표가 학업성적에 가지는 간접효과의 경로를 확인하였다. 연구결과를 종합하면,  학업성적으로 가는 경로가 크게 학습지향 경로와 수행지향 경로로 구분됨을 보여준다. 학습지향 경로는 의견기반 사회비교의 효과와 숙달성취목표의 효과가 자기효능감과 노력을 통해 학업성적에 영향력이 있음을 보여준다. 반면에 수행지향 경로는 능력기반 사회비교의 효과와 수행접근목표의 효과가 학업성적에 미치는 영향력을 보여준다. 학습지향 경로와 수행지향 경로가 각각 학업성적에 미치는 영향력을 고려할때, 두 개의 경로를 모두 따르는 학생들이 가장 많은 학업적 이점을 가질 것을 시사한다. 학부모와 교사는 학생들이 경쟁적인 교육환경 내에서 학습에 대한 흥미와 노력과 같은 내적 과정에 집중할 수 있도록 도와주는 역할을 할 수 있을 것이다. 경쟁에 기반한 학업이 시사하는 바를 논의하였다.    

KEYWORDS:

• Opinion-based social comparison
• ability-based social comparison
• achievement goals
• norm-referenced evaluation
• high school students

키워드:

• 의견기반 사회비교
• 능력기반 사회비교
• 성취목표
• 규준참조평가
• 고등학생

Disclosure statement

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

Availability of data and material

Data and associated codes are available upon request.

Consent to participate

The author took all ethical procedures including the consents for participation and for publication.

Ethics approval

The author has received the permission to conduct the study from the IRB of the affiliated institute (Approved Task Number1041386–202008-HR-48-01).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Pukyong National University Research Fund in [202206250001].

Notes on contributors

Heejung Chun

Heejung Chun Ph.D is a professor in the Institute of Liberal Art at the Pukyong National University. She earned her doctorate in School Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her expertise and research interests include the psychological effects of norm-referenced evaluation on school adjustment, parental involvement, acculturation, cultural impact on school adjustment, academic success, and resilience.