Citation

Abacioglu CS, Isvoranu AM, Verkuyten M, Thijs J, Epskamp S. J. Sch. Psychol. 2019; 74: 90-105.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Psychological Methods, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129, 1018 WS Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address: S.Epskamp@uva.nl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Society for the Study of School Psychology, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsp.2019.02.003

PMID

31213234

Abstract

Students' relationships with peers and teachers strongly influence their motivation to engage in learning activities. Ethnic minority students, however, are often victimized in schools, and their educational achievement lags behind that of their majority group counterparts. The aim of the present study was to explore teachers' multicultural approach within their classrooms as a possible factor of influence over students' peer relationships and motivation. We utilized the novel methodology of estimating psychological networks in order to map out the interactions between these constructs within multicultural classrooms.

RESULTS indicate that a multicultural approach is directly connected to student motivation for both ethnic majority and minority students. Social integration within peer groups, however, seems to be a possible mediator of this relationship for the ethnic minority students. Due to the hypothesis generating nature of the psychological network approach, a more thorough investigation of this generated mediation hypothesis is called for.

Copyright © 2019 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Motivation; Multicultural education; Psychological network analysis; Social integration; Victimization