On Social Achievement Goals: Their Relations With Peer Acceptance, Classroom Belongingness, and Perceptions of Loneliness

The authors investigated the relation between social achievement goals (A. M. Ryan & S. S. Shim, 2006) and aspects of studentsʹ socio-emotional adjustment in a sample of elementary school students. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that after controlling for levels of prosocial skills, a social development goal was positively related to perceived belongingness and negatively related to perceptions of loneliness at school. In contrast, a social demonstration-avoid goal was positively associated with perceptions of loneliness, whereas a social demonstration-approach goal was negatively associated with peer acceptance. Last, prosocial skills were positively related to studentsʹ peer acceptance, which was negatively associated with feelings of loneliness. The results and their implications on studentsʹ school adjustment are discussed within the social achievement goal framework.