RECAP
• Achievement is an important issue during adolescence because society typically designates
adolescence as a time for preparation for adult work roles, because individuals now can
understand the long-term implications of their educational and career decisions, and
because during adolescence schools begin making distinctions among individuals that
potentially have profound effects on their long-term occupational development.
• The fundamental changes of adolescence affect the development of achievement in several ways.
Puberty may affect the development of achievement by introducing new psychological and
interpersonal concerns, which may affect the adolescents’ priorities and behaviour in school.
• The cognitive changes of adolescence allow individuals to engage in longer-term,
hypothetical thinking and planning about their educational and occupational futures, as
well as enable them to study subjects that require more sophisticated cognitive abilities.
• The transition into new social roles is probably the most important influence on
achievement in adolescence. Society has structured the worlds of school and work so that major
decisions about school and work take place in adolescence.
RECAP
• Adolescents’ achievement motivation and their fear of failure work together to pull them
toward or repel them from achievement situations. A strong need for achievement is
facilitated by parenting that combines the basic elements of authoritativeness with high
expectations for success.
• Although some students underachieve because they have an intense fear of failure, which
makes them anxious, others engage in “self-handicapping” strategies in order to appear
nonchalant about school. Often, self-handicapping is done so that students have an excuse for
poor performance other than a lack of ability.
• Some students perform poorly because they have been led to believe that members of their
ethnic group or gender are inherently less able than others, a phenomenon that is called
“stereotype threat.”
• Contemporary theories tend to stress the interaction of motives, beliefs, attributions, and
goals as influencing adolescents’ achievement orientation. Adolescents who believe that ability
is malleable, who are motivated by intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards, who are confident
about their abilities, and who attribute their successes and failures to effort rather than to things
they can’t control achieve more in school than their peers.
• Teachers can help improve their students’ achievement by creating environments that stress
mastery over performance, by helping students attribute their successes and failures to
how hard they work, and by stressing that intelligence is malleable rather than fixed.
RECAP
• In addition to the influence of beliefs, motives, attributions, and goals, individuals’ levels of
achievement are affected by the social context in which they develop.
• Adolescents perform better and are more engaged in school when they come from homes in
which their parents value and expect scholastic success, practice authoritative parenting, and
provide a home environment that is high in cultural capital.
• In addition, adolescents whose friends support academic achievement perform better in
school than do peers whose friends disparage doing well in school.
• Researchers now understand that patterns of achievement are the result of a cumulative
process that includes a long history of experience and socialization in school, in the family, in
the peer group, and in the community.
RECAP
• Socioeconomic status is an extremely powerful influence on educational achievement.
Generally, adolescents from higher social classes perform better in school and complete more
years of schooling than do their less advantaged counterparts.
• There are ethnic differences in educational achievement above and beyond those attributable
to socioeconomic status. In the United States, Asian adolescents outperform White students, who,
in turn, do better than Black, Hispanic, or American Indian students. One reason for the superior
performance of Asian students is that they are more likely to hold the sorts of beliefs about
achievement that are predictive of success in school in all ethnic groups.
• The low level of educational achievement among American youth has been a concern for
several decades. Although some gains in scores on standardized tests of achievement were reported
during the mid-1980s, with the exception of early adolescents’ math scores, achievement by and
• Achievement is an important issue during adolescence because society typically designates
adolescence as a time for preparation for adult work roles, because individuals now can
understand the long-term implications of their educational and career decisions, and
because during adolescence schools begin making distinctions among individuals that
potentially have profound effects on their long-term occupational development.
• The fundamental changes of adolescence affect the development of achievement in several ways.
Puberty may affect the development of achievement by introducing new psychological and
interpersonal concerns, which may affect the adolescents’ priorities and behaviour in school.
• The cognitive changes of adolescence allow individuals to engage in longer-term,
hypothetical thinking and planning about their educational and occupational futures, as
well as enable them to study subjects that require more sophisticated cognitive abilities.
• The transition into new social roles is probably the most important influence on
achievement in adolescence. Society has structured the worlds of school and work so that major
decisions about school and work take place in adolescence.
RECAP
• Adolescents’ achievement motivation and their fear of failure work together to pull them
toward or repel them from achievement situations. A strong need for achievement is
facilitated by parenting that combines the basic elements of authoritativeness with high
expectations for success.
• Although some students underachieve because they have an intense fear of failure, which
makes them anxious, others engage in “self-handicapping” strategies in order to appear
nonchalant about school. Often, self-handicapping is done so that students have an excuse for
poor performance other than a lack of ability.
• Some students perform poorly because they have been led to believe that members of their
ethnic group or gender are inherently less able than others, a phenomenon that is called
“stereotype threat.”
• Contemporary theories tend to stress the interaction of motives, beliefs, attributions, and
goals as influencing adolescents’ achievement orientation. Adolescents who believe that ability
is malleable, who are motivated by intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards, who are confident
about their abilities, and who attribute their successes and failures to effort rather than to things
they can’t control achieve more in school than their peers.
• Teachers can help improve their students’ achievement by creating environments that stress
mastery over performance, by helping students attribute their successes and failures to
how hard they work, and by stressing that intelligence is malleable rather than fixed.
RECAP
• In addition to the influence of beliefs, motives, attributions, and goals, individuals’ levels of
achievement are affected by the social context in which they develop.
• Adolescents perform better and are more engaged in school when they come from homes in
which their parents value and expect scholastic success, practice authoritative parenting, and
provide a home environment that is high in cultural capital.
• In addition, adolescents whose friends support academic achievement perform better in
school than do peers whose friends disparage doing well in school.
• Researchers now understand that patterns of achievement are the result of a cumulative
process that includes a long history of experience and socialization in school, in the family, in
the peer group, and in the community.
RECAP
• Socioeconomic status is an extremely powerful influence on educational achievement.
Generally, adolescents from higher social classes perform better in school and complete more
years of schooling than do their less advantaged counterparts.
• There are ethnic differences in educational achievement above and beyond those attributable
to socioeconomic status. In the United States, Asian adolescents outperform White students, who,
in turn, do better than Black, Hispanic, or American Indian students. One reason for the superior
performance of Asian students is that they are more likely to hold the sorts of beliefs about
achievement that are predictive of success in school in all ethnic groups.
• The low level of educational achievement among American youth has been a concern for
several decades. Although some gains in scores on standardized tests of achievement were reported
during the mid-1980s, with the exception of early adolescents’ math scores, achievement by and
