Teachers as Sources of Middle School Students' Motivational Identity: Variable-Centered and Person-Centered Analytic Approaches

Variable-centered (regression) and person-centered (cluster analytic) techniques were used to examine the relations between 206 eighth-grade students' achievement motivation and their perceptions of teacher caring, after accounting for influences of parents and peers and controlling for prior (grade 7) motivation. Motivation was assessed using students' self-reports of academic self-efficacy and intrinsic valuing of education, as well as teacher ratings of effort. Teacher, parent, and peer influences on motivation were based on students' self-reports. Regression analyses revealed that perceived teacher caring accounted for significant amounts of variance in all 3 measures of eighth-grade motivation, after controlling for both seventh-grade motivation and perceived motivational influences from parents and peers. Although these results were consistent with an additive effects model of development, cluster analyses showed that most students perceived consistency (positive, neutral, or negative) in the messages communicated by their teachers, parents, and peers, suggesting that compensation across contexts did not take place. Implications for teachers and researchers are discussed.