IOE DISSERTATION 2009

INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
PSYCHOLOGY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
MA/MSc IN PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION
Investigating the Relationship between Motivation and Future Aspirations
and a Young Person's Perceptions of Social Connectedness.
By
Camilla Williams
(Word Count – 19,568)
A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the
MA/MSc degree in Psychology of Education
September 2009
“This report/dissertation may be made available to the general public for
borrowing, photocopying or consultation without the prior consent of the
author.”

i
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks and my infinite gratitude
To my amazing Mum and Dad for their unwavering love, support and
encouragement, without them none of this would have been possible, and
everything I do, I do to make them proud.
*
To my wonderful boyfriend, Moritz; not only is he a constant source of intellectual
inspiration to me, he is also very good at cheering me up!
*
To Dr. Jane Hurry, Lecturer in Research Methods at the Institute of Education,
University of London, for her patience (which was nothing short of saintly), her
guidance and her support. She is a wonderful supervisor.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i
LIST OF TABLES iv
ABSTRACT vi
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1
1.1 ACADEMIC MOTIVATION: WHERE DOES IT COME FROM AND WHY IS
IT IMPORTANT?........................................................................................................... 3
1.2 OCCUPATIONAL IDENTITY: THE FORMATION AND IMPORTANCE OF
IDENTITY.................................................................................................................... 12
1.3 SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS ............................................................................... 19
1.3.1 Social and Community Networks .................................................................... 21
1.3.2. Perceptions of Prejudice.................................................................................. 23
1.3.3 Family and Marriage........................................................................................ 26
1.3.4 Attitudes towards Politics and Current Affairs ................................................ 26
1.4 THE PRESENT STUDY ............................................................................................ 28
2.1 PARTICIPANTS .................................................................................................... 29
2.2 RECRUITMENT METHODS AND PROCEDURE.............................................. 31
2.3 MEASURES ........................................................................................................... 31
2.3.1 Assessing Social Connectedness...................................................................... 32
2.3.2 Motivation for Learning................................................................................... 34
2.3.3 Occupational Identity....................................................................................... 36
2.4 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE SUBSCALES AND THEIR
CONSTRUCTS USED IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................. 37
3. RESULTS ..................................................................................................................... 40
3.1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS................................................................................ 40
3.2 RESEARCH FINDINGS........................................................................................ 42
3.2.1 Hypothesis 1............................................................................................................. 42
3.2.2 Hypothesis 2............................................................................................................. 48
3.2.3 Analysis of the Relationships between Social Connectedness, Identity status
and Motivation.......................................................................................................... 50

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4. DISCUSSION............................................................................................................... 55
4.1 Hypothesis 1............................................................................................................ 55
4.2 Hypothesis 2............................................................................................................ 58
4.3 Limitations.............................................................................................................. 59
4.4 General Discussion: Educational Implications and Conclusion ............................ 62
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 69
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 101
APPENDIX 1.................................................................................................................. 101
OFSTED reports for the three participating schools................................................... 101
APPENDIX 2.................................................................................................................. 125
Letter sent to schools .................................................................................................. 125
APPENDIX 3.................................................................................................................. 126
Self-report Questionnaire............................................................................................ 126
APPENDIX 4.................................................................................................................. 136
Statistical analyses (SPSS Output).................................................................................. 136

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 30
Nationalities of Study Participants
Table 2 39
Internal Coefficient Alphas for the Scales and Subscales
Table 3 41
Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables Connectedness & Motivation in English
Table 4 42
Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables Motivation in Maths and Occupational Identity
Table 5 44
Pearson Correlations between Connectedness and Motivation in English
Table 6 47
Pearson Correlations between Connectedness and Motivation in Math
Table 7 48
Pearson Correlations between Connectedness and Occupational Identity
Table 8 49
Pearson Correlations between Occupational Identity Statuses

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Table 9 50
Multiple regression analysis of the relationship between Connectedness and
Occupational Identity
Table 10 51
Multiple regression analysis of the relationship between Motivation in English and
Table 11 51
Multiple regression analysis of the relationship between Motivation in Maths and
Table 12 52
Full regression analysis of the predictive power of Social Connectedness and
Occupational Identity on Motivation in English
Table 13 53
Full regression analysis of the predictive power of Social Connectedness and
Occupational Identity on Motivation in Maths

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Abstract
Previous research has largely focused on the importance of attachment [theory] in relation
to social behaviour, academic attainment and identity formation (Bowlby, 1969; Brown et
al. 1997; Carlson & Sroufe, 1995). However, it is also important to consider the effects
of wider social behaviour on the individual, especially in light of the theory that the
development of individual identity is socially constructed (Côté & Allahar, 1994; Mead,
1925, 1934). Taking into account the individualisation of Western society (Durkheim,
1933; Jenks, 2003; Reith, 2004) and the increase of negative media attention on
‘antisocial’ youths (Hall et al., 1978; Goffman, 1961), the aim of this study was to
determine whether perceptions of social connectedness influences the development of
motivated behaviour (including efficacious beliefs, task value beliefs and goal
orientations) and the formation of occupational identity statuses (i.e. Achieved,
Moratorium, Foreclose and Diffused; Marcia, 1966). The sample consisted of 91
adolescents in Year 10, aged between 14-15 (M = 14.63) from three schools in London.
Each participant completed a confidential self-report questionnaire that assessed their
perceptions of social connectedness (Social Connectedness Scale; constructed by the
author), their motivation in English and Maths (Motivated Strategies for Learning
Questionnaire; Pintrich, et al., 1991, 1993) and their occupational identity (Occupational
Identity Scale; Melgosa, 1987). The results confirmed that feelings of social
connectedness are both positively correlated with academic motivation, and more
positively related to the more advanced Occupation Identity statuses (achieved,
moratorium, foreclosed) than to the least advanced (diffused), suggesting that
connectedness promotes exploration of and commitment to values and goals. Therefore,
future research should examine the factors that mediate the relation between the
deleterious effects of deficient connectedness and academic motivation and occupational
identity formation, such as resiliency and locus of control, so as to better design
intervention strategies and encourage social participation.

1
Investigating the Relationship between Motivation and Future Aspirations and a
Young Person's Perceptions of Social Connectedness.
...the generation of schemes of classification and of social distinction in the practice of
social relations is an essential ingredient in the formation of social and individual
identity.
(Lasch & Friedman, 1992:4)
1. INTRODUCTION
It has been an enduring belief that the social world has a pre-eminence over the
individual; each social institution, every venerated social value or belief and each
collective and individual sense of fear or insecurity has been borne out of culturally
historical experience. Indeed, as Cole and Wertsch wrote, 'at birth, the cultural past is,
literally, thrust upon [us].' (1996: 253). Very much associated with this way of thinking
have been attempts to link the social and the psychological facets of analysis that have
permeated intellectual discourse throughout the twentieth century, the central focus of
which has been the origins of cognitive development. One approach to the study of
education, and its related fields of motivation, self-regulated learning (SRL) and self-
determination theory, has been to focus on the formation of if an individual's identity,
which too is acknowledged as being a socially embedded process (Côté & Allahar, 1994;
Marcia, 1966; Yoder, 2000), thus attempting to ascertain potential links between the
impact of social, economic and world change on the fabric from which a person draws the
information and experiences that forms his identity. As Kroger states, "the dominant
mood of any historical epoch is intimately linked with an individual's psychosocial
identity options as well as one's very model of engaging in the identity formation process
itself" (1993:364). It has been argued that there are two motivating drives for
forging relationships in early development, and these in turn fall into two

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categories; the effective drive seeks personal agency, mastery, self-sufficiency and
efficacy while the safety drive encompasses the pursuit of support, dependency,
trust and comfort, and social networks are created as a consequence of these
innate drives (Kadushin, 2002). However, the constituents of these two drives are
paradoxical, and while autonomy and individualisation are arguably more
characteristic of contemporary society (Haidt & Rodin, 1999), effective drives are
contingent on the presence of a safe and supportive social system which supplies a
stable foundation on which an individual can learn and master new skills (ibid).
In light of this, and when one takes into account the societal shift towards Capitalism and
individualisation since the industrial revolution, and the subsequent social division of
people into those who can and those who can't, it espouses the need to take a closer look
at how this new, less cohesive society affects identity development, especially in
contemporary youth, who appear to be increasingly alienated from mainstream social
institutions (Côté, 1994; Ferrer-Wreder et al., 2002; Tait, 1993). Therefore, in the context
of a more secularised, complex and diverse culture, confronting challenges and making
life choices that define an individual's sense of personal and moral identity can become a
daunting and seemingly insurmountable task for even the most resilient of young people
(Ferrer-Wreder et al., 2002:169; Adams & Marshall, 1996; Côté & Allahar, 1994).
Synchronous with this is the issue of prolific and often damaging social labelling; in
today's press, the inordinate amount of attention given to a certain genre of youth and the
associated delinquency could be seen as creating 'a self-fulfilling spiral of deviancy
amplification' (Hall et al., 1978). The resultant status degradation and stigma perpetuated
by conventional society creates an environment into which the 'deviant outsiders' can
retreat and establish a subculture conducive to their commonly held values and needs
(Goffman, 1963). In light of this alienation, those who feel as though they have been
outcast may well feel as though they have no obligation to uphold conventional society's

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rules and norms. It is widely argued, and indeed has been evidenced, that secondary
school education is a vital determinant of the transition from adolescence into adulthood
(Egeland et al., 1993; Masten et al., 1999); the precedent set in these years can either
positively or detrimentally affect not only educational outcomes but also career outcomes
and, essentially, life chances throughout an individual's adult years (Cowen et al., 1997;
Werner & Smith, 1992). This research study, therefore, seeks to investigate the possible
relationship between this perceived disconnection from society among marginalised
young people and their academic motivation towards both their schooling and their future
aspirations towards life in the occupational world.
1.1 ACADEMIC MOTIVATION: WHERE DOES IT COME FROM
AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Research into academic performance often focuses on ascertaining the reasons why some
students approach their school work with energy and purpose (i.e. motivation) thus
obtaining good grades through learning, while others imperil their academic performance
due to an absence of impetus or incentive, exhibiting unmotivated behaviour. When
investigating the motivational dynamics in school, it is important to recognise and
account for the differences in each child's underlying beliefs and capacities.
Acknowledging these underlying beliefs and capacities is vital because, in doing so,
researchers are taking into account that there is an active participating individual at the
heart of every social situation (Skinner, 1998). Moreover, Deci et al. (1991) argue that
there are three inherent psychological needs that underpin human life; the need for
competence (in order to understand how to attain both internal and external outcomes and
perform required actions efficaciously), autonomy (the ability to be self-initiating and
self-regulating), and relatedness (the development of secure and meaningful bonds with
others in the individual's social milieu). Each and every social interaction and social
relationship is perceived and interpreted by each and every child, and these interpretations
in turn can serve to either strengthen or undermine their motivation. This is a common

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strand in most theories of motivation, that children not only actively interpret their social
interactions but, through them, they attempt to discover what these experiences reveal
about who they are and about how the social world works. Not only this, but these
experiences accumulate over time and become organised as systems of belief or social
schemata, bringing with them preconceived notions, or biases, that subsequently
influence and mediate future social interactions. Different forms of these systems of self
belief have increasingly fallen under the scrutiny of investigation in recent years (Harter,
1990), and researchers have found that these self-constructed beliefs attest to the
significance of an individual's perceived self, as opposed to their actual self, especially in
relation to successful functioning and adaptation across innumerable social spheres
(Bandura, 1995). This view is reminiscent of Cooley’s (1902) “looking-glass self” and
Mead’s (1925) “generalised other” in that ‘we appear as selves in our conduct insofar as
we ourselves take the attitude that others take toward us. We take the role of what may
be called the ‘generalised’ other’ (Mead, 1925:270). Therefore, in order to anticipate
how others will react to his actions, the individual must first learn to perceive the world as
they do (Epstein, 1973). It has thus been corroborated that individuals with positive
views of themselves are more likely to strive to succeed while those with weak or
negative self-conceptions often fall short of their potential in light of their objective
capacity, leading to the view that constructs of self beliefs are not merely reflections of an
individual's past performances, but are also active, agentic producers of attainment (Bong
& Clark, 1999; Bandura, 1986). Academic motivation is illustrative of this individual
agency and self-belief and has been recognised for its critical importance in academic
attainment (Deci et al., 1991; Gottfried, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000a). Indeed, Ryan &
Deci stated that academic motivation encompasses "energy, direction, persistence and
equifinality - all aspects of activation and intention" (2000a:69).
Consequently, motivational theorists have emphasised the importance of the early
developmental period which involves extensive learning which is facilitated by two
properties of the brain that are present from the time of birth onwards. These two

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properties are immaturity and responsiveness to environmental input (Halfon, Shulman &
Hochstein, 2001). That is to say, the immaturity of an infant's brain is indicative of the
organism's vast learning potential which initially depends on the more mature members of
the child's immediate environment who are in the position to impart knowledge based on
their own experiences and who are invested in the child both physically and emotionally
(Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002), thus giving the child templates of experience upon which
to build his or her own view of the world (Gauvain, 2001). The responsiveness of the
brain reveals that development will reflect the experiences children have as the brain
matures, thus building and developing individualised schemata based on the unique
circumstances of growth. This mental structure is composed of abstract knowledge
reflecting the individual's past and on-going life and world experiences, thus creating a
totally unique way of thinking and reacting and enabling a person to be fully capable of
applying his own alternative/individual schemata that are dependent entirely on his
intentions, aspirations and perceived demands, thus implying that as opposed to being a
blank canvass with no free-will; a person, for example, watches television with prior
motivations and needs which he seeks to fulfil through watching. These motivations and
aspirations could be anything from the desire to be taught, to escape reality for a while or
simply to be entertained.
According to Deci & Ryan (2000b), different motivations reflect the varying degrees to
which the value and regulation of a requested behaviour has been internalised and
integrated into an individual's schemata. Internalisation, defined as the "proactive
process through which people transform regulation by external contingencies into
regulation by internal processes" (Deci et al., 1991:328; Schafer, 1968), and the
subsequent integration of that value into their own set of values are both crucial
components of a child's formative years, and it should also be noted that they continue to
be relevant in the regulation of behaviour throughout the lifespan (Ryan & Deci,
2000b). With this in mind, it is becoming increasingly important to prepare children not
only to pass academic tests, but also to integrate learning with social-emotional

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competence so as to maximise a student's chances of success both in school and beyond
(Zins & Elias, 2006). Wang, Haertel & Walberg (1997) developed 28 categories of
influences on learning, based on empirical reviews of 179 handbook chapters, 91 research
syntheses and surveys of 61 national experts, and concluded that 8 of the 11 most
influential categories involved social and emotional factors (Zins & Elias, 2006:1).
Sustained social relationships with primary caregivers provide children with recurring
opportunities for learning which, in turn, promotes invaluable growth in complex
cognitive skills. The emotional investment in the child can also facilitate intrinsic
motivation and other such arousal states that can nurture the desire to learn (Ryan, 1993).
Learning behaviours are typically viewed as a product of either extrinsic or intrinsic
motivation (Hayamizu, 1997), the distinction being that intrinsically motivated
behaviours are defined as those that are engaged primarily for the joy and gratification
that can be derived from performing them. An example of this would be when a student
attends a class because he finds it interesting, challenging and satisfying, and not because
of the threat of punitive action or failure should he choose not to go. On the other hand,
extrinsically motivated actions are those that are performed in order to achieve or attain a
separable goal. However, it has since been found that extrinsic motivators can facilitate
motivation, depending on what the motivator is. For example, a student might work very
hard because he/she holds the belief that it is valuable for a chosen career rather than
because he/she finds it interesting or because of the desire to avoid punishment for not
carrying out the task (Ryan & Deci, 2000a). Therefore, it has been hypothesised that the
extent to which self-determined behaviours are externally endorsed or hindered is
predicated on the individual's sense of self (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Connell, 1989).
In other words, if intrinsic motivation is borne out of the developmental processes of
internalisation and integration, and the consequent tendency towards assimilation incites
people not only to pursue activities that interest them, but also to internalise and integrate
the values of these activities, the argument is that as a result the individual feels both
autonomous and connected to others within the social world. Indeed, Ryan & Deci

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theorised that socialising inter-relationships between the individual and others that can
hinder these internalisation and integration processes, thus fostering an "alienated" type
of extrinsic motivation and an external perceived locus of causality (2000b: 62) that has
been associated with low student involvement, interest and perseverance in academic
tasks. According to Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory, three separate but
interdependent factors aide the development of self-regulation, which is defined as the
ability to be metacognitive, intrinsically motivated and strategic (Perry, 1998), and these
are personal, behavioural, and environmental (Purdie, et al., 2004). In concurrence with
Deci et al. (1991), these three factors place emphasis on beliefs in one's performance
competency, and Ryan (1982) further argued that positive feedback and positive feelings
of relatedness serve to increase self-regulating and motivated behaviour via the
enhancement of the internalisation and integration process (Grolnick & Ryan, 1989).
However, Grolnick & Ryan (1989) go on to contend that if the environmental and social
context fails to be autonomy supportive, thus thwarting satisfaction of the aforementioned
basic human needs (Deci et al., 1991), the natural development process and motivation
could be impaired and weakened, leading to alienation and diminished performance
(Blanck, Reis & Jackson, 1984; Vallerand, 1983).
The idea of autonomous or self-regulated learning puts an important emphasis on the
significance of integrating both motivational and cognitive components of learning
(Garcia & Pintrich, 1994; Pintrich, 1999). One particular model of motivation, put forth
by Pintrich & Schunk (1996), highlights three general types of motivational beliefs
(Pintrich, 1999):
Self-efficacy beliefs. Self-efficacy is hypothesised as affecting an individual's choice of
activities, effort, strategies and persistence, and was thus defined as 'beliefs in one's
capabilities to organise and execute the courses of action required to produce given
attainments' (Bandura, 1997:3; Schunk, 1985). In the context of achieving desired goals
in certain subjects, self-efficacy beliefs involve students' confidence in their cognitive

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skills to learn and apply knowledge where appropriate. Zimmerman et al. (1992) found
that students' self-efficacy for self-regulated learning beliefs were predictive of their self-
efficacious beliefs for academic achievement beliefs which in turn was predictive of their
future grades (Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 2005). Moreover, students who possess high
self-efficacy consequently possess higher feelings of autonomy and are therefore more
likely to view themselves (as a group) as more responsible for their academic outcomes
than their teachers (Bandura, 1997; Cooper et al., 1998; Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 2005).
Zimmerman & Kitsantas (2005) investigated the role of homework practices ('tasks
assigned by teachers to be carried out during non-school hours' Cooper, 1989: 7) in the
development of students' self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulation and found a high
correlation between quality and quantity of homework and levels of the aforementioned
constructs. Furthermore, students who have strong self-efficacy beliefs have been found
to be more likely to report engaging in cognitive strategies such as rehearsal, elaboration
and organisational strategies (Pintrich, 2000).
Task value beliefs. Eccles (1983) postulated that three constructs that fall within task
value beliefs play an important role in achievement dynamics, the first of which is the
individual's beliefs about the importance of the task at hand and how salient they believe
it to be to what they want to achieve. The second construct refers to how interested the
student is in carrying the task out, that is to say, the individual's general attitude towards
the task and how much they like it, and is assumed to be fairly stable over time and a
function of personal characteristics (Pintrich, 2000). The final construct is concerned
with the task's perceived value should it be completed; in an educational context, the
utility value of a task may be discerned by how useful a certain course will be to the
individual, either in terms of applying the knowledge to another course or how relevant it
is to their chosen career or life in general (Pintrich et al., 1993). Research has
demonstrated that task value beliefs are positively correlated with the use of cognitive
strategies, as well as being predictive of increased use of strategies that monitor and
regulate cognition in students who report higher levels of interest and value in an activity

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than those who don't exhibit such interest. Although not as prominent as the correlations
between self-efficacy and performance, it was also found that task value was a positive
predictor of enhanced academic performance (Pintrich, 1989; Pintrich & Garcia, 1991;
Pintrich et al., 1993).
Goal orientations. This final type of motivational belief focuses on 2 general subscales
of goal orientations (Duncan & McKeachie, 2005; Wolters, Yu & Pintrich, 1996). The
first subscale, mastery/intrinsic goal orientation, refers to the desire to learn and master a
task through the adherence of self-set standards and self-improvement. This construct of
goal orientation includes the student's control of learning beliefs, in that she believes that
the outcomes of activities are contingent on her and the effort she makes, rather than
external factors such as her teacher or relying on luck. Extrinsic goal orientation sees
the locus of control as external to the student, who carries out activities with the view to
gaining good grades and praise (from teachers or parents), for these are the things they
posit as the main criterion for success.
Gottfried (1985), in her study measuring intrinsic motivation for specific studies such as
maths, science, social science and reading (as measured in Standardised Achievement
Tests or SATs) in early elementary, late elementary and junior high school students found
significant positive correlations between intrinsic motivation and achievement. Deci &
Ryan (1985) went on to posit an additional type of motivational construct, which is of
considerable importance if human behaviour is to be fully understood; amotivation often
causes individuals to believe that their behaviour is regulated by external forces that they
can't control and, as such, can be construed as a learned helplessness (Abramson et al.,
1978). Being in an amotivated state can often cause the individual to lose sight of any
incentive, thus leaving them in a state of apathy and aimlessness; questioning the reasons
behind attending full-time education can quickly lead to diminished school engagement,
impaired learning and performance and sometimes experience higher levels of stress
(Klassen, 2008; Legault, Green-Demers & Pelletier, 2006; Senecal, Koestner &

10
Vallerand, 1995). Therefore, through self-regulating behaviour, it can be observed that
different kinds of motivation can predict different motivational consequences, with
intrinsic (or autonomous) motivation leading to positive outcomes, while decreased levels
of autonomy, as seen in amotivational or externally regulated states, can result in negative
outcomes.
Yeager & Bundick (2009), in their multi-method study of 148 6th
-, 9th
-, and 12th
- grade
adolescents, furthered this sentiment by showing a relationship between work goals,
purpose and meaning. Indeed, Waterman contended that "people are more likely to
experience enhanced well-being when they realise self-generated goals that satisfy
personal needs" (2007:269), which is concurrent not only with the need for competence,
autonomy and connectedness, but also with the human need to matter (Eccles, 2004,
2008). Adolescents require confirmation that their opinions and feelings are not just
heard, but acknowledged and can make an impact on the wider social world (ibid). As
mentioned above, it is widely held that secure attachment and socialisation in the
formative years serve to lay the foundations for later cognitive and socio-emotional
development (Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002; Bowlby, 1969; Gerhardt, 2004), and
Coleman et al. (1966) controversially concluded that family background and social
context are strong predictors of a child's achievement outcomes (Hess & Holloway,
1985), although the main focus thus far has been on parental influences of children's
school-related adjustment and performance (Grolnick & Ryan, 1989). However, because
each and every social interaction and social relationship is perceived and interpreted by
each and every child (Skinner, 1998), these interpretations in turn can serve to either
strengthen or undermine their motivation. An individual's motive dispositions serve to
galvanise and orient behaviour, although they do not dictate how, once the motive has
been activated, it should be fulfilled. Therefore, individuals frequently adopt more
cognitively-based goals that enable them to direct their actions and behaviour either
towards or away from specific motive-relevant possibilities. The idea that motives can
stimulate actions and affect outcomes by encouraging the implementation of certain

11
goals, and that goals, in turn, can exert influence on behaviour and directly affect
outcomes (Elliot, 1997; Elliot & Church, 1997), can perhaps shed some light on the
hypothesised association between maladaptive attachment to society and low levels of
motivation in both school and for future aspirations. There has been, for instance, a
plethora of research into the effects of teacher expectations on students' academic
performance (Rubie-Davies, 2006; Blatchford et al., 1989; Babad, 1998; Eccles &
Wigfield, 1998; Pellegrini & Blatchford, 2000), and the general consensus is that
expectations do have the propensity to either enhance student achievement or act to their
detriment, possibly by a margin of 5% (Brophy, 1982). However, the majority of the
preliminary research studies focused on teachers and the ways in which more
individualised interactions and expectations effected individual students, and it wasn't
until recently that research began to concentrate on the possible outcomes of teachers'
expectations for their collective students. Having said that, Brophy argued in 1985 that
'differential teacher treatment of groups and classes may well be a much more
widespread and powerful mediator of self-fulfilling prophecy effect on student
achievement than differential teacher treatment of individual students within the same
group or class' (p. 309). The very notion that one person's preconceived opinions could
significantly affect the performance outcomes of a group of children is an interesting one,
because it highlights the fact that children are susceptible to indirect negative or positive
thoughts or opinions. Indeed, a large proportion of Babad's work (1993, 1998) has
focused on the investigation of the subtle verbal and non-verbal cues that teachers exude
which students have proven to be very adept at picking up on and interpreting. He has
demonstrated that, while a teacher might believe he/she is providing emotional support to
a pupil deemed as low-achieving, the pupil in question has perceived the opposite (Babad,
1995), and another study reported that teachers' endeavours to display encouragement and
support to low-expectation students proved to be transparent and construed as not being
genuine due to over-exaggeration (1998). Thus, it has been shown that students from as
young as 5 or 6 years of age can interpret teacher behaviours with a sophistication that

12
belies their age (Weinstein et al., 1982; Kuklinski & Weinstein, 2000; Weinstein, 2002;
Rubie-Davies, 2006) and this in turn could prove to be a prelude to an even wider social
problem.
Accordingly, in the same vein as Yoder (2000), the study of barriers or external
limitations (such as low socioeconomic status, poor education support and an absence of
role models, ibid) imposed upon processes that act to maintain and enhance intrinsic
motivation and self-determination (Waterman, 1982), could give new insight into the
effects of negative social interpretations by adolescents (Pomerantz & Ruble, 1998; Ryan
& Deci, 2000; Skinner, 1998). Seeing a possible deficit in the research literature, this
study aims to investigate the effects of socially imposed barriers, such as the breakdown
of social trust, the stigma resulting from social labelling or stereotyping, on adolescents'
motivation.
1.2 OCCUPATIONAL IDENTITY: THE FORMATION AND
IMPORTANCE OF IDENTITY
The study of psychosocial identity formation has posited adolescence as a crucial time in
that the forging of one's identity requires the consolidation of all one's beliefs, values and
goals into a consistent and reasoned narrative upon which to base life decisions and moral
judgements (Arnett, 2000; Erikson, 1950, 1968; Schwartz, 2001; Yeager & Bundick,
2009). Taking his cue from theorists such as James (1892), Cooley (1902), Mead (1934)
and Freud (1930/1965), Erikson wrote that "ego identity is the awareness of self-
sameness and continuity [and] the style of one's individuality [which] coincides with the
sameness and continuity of one's meanings for others in the immediate community"
(1968:50), thus concurring with the notion that identity is formed through psychological
experiences with the social environment (Côté, 1993; Schwartz, 2002). The self-identity,
or self-concept, has therefore been defined as an individual's sense of unique identity,
which is completely differentiated from everyone else's (Brewer & Gardner, 2004), and
symbolic interactionists such as Cooley (1902) and Mead (1925, 1934) placed enormous

13
emphasis on the argument that social interactions with others profoundly shaped the
individual's sense of self. In other words, they argued that the sense of self was,
primarily, a social construction, cultivated through linguistic exchanges (or symbolic
interactions) with others. In Mead's words, 'human society...does not merely stamp the
pattern of its organised behaviour upon its individual members it also gives him a mind.
Which constitute[s] the structure of his self' (1934:263). That being said, the fact that a
multitude of social forces impress upon the individual's sense of identity greatly
complicates the sense of self and the idea that one's identity is instilled in them initially
via attachment and social learning processes is at the crux of this concept. Baumeister &
Leary (1995) contended that it is the inherent drive to belong to the collective that
compels people to pursue and forge meaningful social interactions; they theorise that
when the need to belong is fulfilled, the individual experiences stating that it is the
feelings of well-being as well as heightened functioning. McAdams & Bryant (1987)
demonstrated that individuals experienced enhanced subjective well-being when they
possess a strong desire for social intimacy, and their social interactions augment positive
affect (Brown et al., 2007; Fleeson et al., 2002). In contrast to this, disturbances that
detrimentally affect social needs and connectedness impair functioning (Brown et al.,
2007). The complexity of developing and establishing an individual identity is the
process by which a person gains his/her footing in society and by seeking out
membership of a group lessens the feelings of emotional and intellectual pressure by
becoming part of a generalised identity. Schwartz (2002) argues that cultural contexts
such as Western society often present young people with ideological conundrums and
self-defining conceptions against the backdrop of contrasting interpersonal and cultural
issues from which they are to define and shape their experience of the transition from
adolescence to adulthood (p.318) and, as Erikson illustrated in Young Man Luther: A
Study in Psychoanalysis and History (1958), mechanisms of social change can be
intrinsically linked to individual identity development. Hence, through encouragement,
inspiration or rebellion, people can seek to define themselves either sympathetically or

14
antagonistically in response to prevailing social conditions (Erikson, 1958, 1969;
Schwartz, 2002). Indeed, two principal consequences of social upheaval are the
ambiguity and confusion of socially prescribed roles for adolescents and the waning of
collective social support for identity formation that was traditionally provided by
conventional institutions such as the family unit and schools (Côté & Allahar, 1994).
While Freud (1930/1965) theorised that one's sense of self was a derivative of parental
introjects during the inception of the superego (towards the end of the Oedipal complex)
and that this development of the self-definition was a feature of the preschool years,
Erikson believed that identity was best represented by a single bipolar dimension that
ranges from the ego syntonic pole of identity synthesis to the ego dystonic pole of identity
confusion (Schwartz, 2001). To clarify, identity synthesis signifies a reworking of
childhood and contemporaneous identifications into a larger, self-determined arrangement
of self-identified ideals thus imbuing the individual with an unshakable sense of purpose
(Erikson, 1969), while identity confusion refers to an inability to develop an effective set
of principles upon which to base an adult identity (which can manifest itself in
uncertainty as to which university one wants to attend or a feeling of lacking any purpose
in life), thus stating that identity formation pervades the life course (ibid: 9). Erikson
(1974, 1980) further delineated his theory of identity into four angles that represent forms
identity takes at different times during one's life, which he then grouped into three levels
according to each angle's degree to which it is entrenched in self and context (Schwartz,
2001). At the most basic level, ego identity was said to encompass an individual's most
fundamental, subconscious beliefs, or sense of individual identity (otherwise known as
ego synthesis) and continuity of personal character (Erikson, 1980). Personal identity
was postulated as intersecting the self and context by referring to the amassed set of
goals, values and beliefs that the individual presents to the world, including career
aspirations, romantic relationships and other unique and distinguishing aspects of the
self. The final and most contextually oriented level was known as social identity which
was argued to contain distinguishing characteristics such as native language and ethnicity

15
as well as an inner sense of solidarity with a set of external ideals (for example, certain
values revered adopted through membership to a particular group or groups) and as such,
this level can also be known as group or collective identity (Côté, 1996b; Schwartz, 2001;
Weigert, Teitge & Teitge, 1986). However, while Erikson's writings were deemed to be
resonant with innovative clinical and metaphorical description, there was a distinct lack
of theoretical precision and operational definitions (Côté & Levine, 1987; Schwartz,
2001). In response to this deficit, Neo-Eriksonian theorist Marcia (1966, 1988, 1993)
advanced an identity model that has since instigated a plethora of empirical research.
Marcia's model was founded on two independent dimensions of identity formation;
exploration, defined as "problem solving behaviour aimed at eliciting information about
oneself or one's environment in order to make a decision about an important life choice"
(Grotevant, 1987:204), involves sorting through multiple choices, while commitment
requires an adherence to or an adoption of a certain set of values, goals and beliefs
(Marcia, 1988), thus imbuing the individual with a sense of purpose and direction
(Marcia, 1980; Schwartz, 2001). A consequence of commitment may be the alleviation of
uncertainty and disorientation which is often a prominent feature of identity confusion
(Erikson, 1964). Using the juxtaposition of these two dimensions, Marcia (1966) went on
to educe four independent identity statuses that, taken together to form a 2 x 2 grid with
exploration as one axis and commitment as the other, can be used to discern whether an
individual falls into a high exploration, low commitment status, or a low exploration, low
commitment status and so on (Schwartz & Dunham, 2000).
Identity achievement. This first identity status represents the enactment of a commitment
ensuing a period of exploration (Schwartz, 2001), and Marcia (1966) originally held that
identity achievement was the ultimate destination in the identity formation process
because the achieved individual was thought to have invested reason, balanced thinking,
efficacious decision making and the ability to forge and maintain strong, healthy
interpersonal relationships (Boyes & Chandler, 1992; Craig-Bay, Adams & Dobson,

16
1988; Marcia, 1993). Therefore, an example of an achieved individual would be someone
who has dedicated time and effort to exploring different avenues before selecting the
most salient to their belief/value system to adhere to (Grotevant, 1987).
Identity moratorium. This status symbolises a state of active exploration but a lack of
ultimate commitment, which can cause feelings of stress or anxiety (Schwartz, 2001). It is
generally hypothesised that individuals do not maintain this identity status for as long as
the others (Meeus, 1992) due to these negative feelings and thus is considered to be the
least rigid of the statuses. That is to say, those who are characterised as belonging to the
moratorium status often demonstrate more open-mindedness in their critical thinking,
especially in light of the multitude of different alternatives many life choices offer,
although the disadvantage of this status is that it can be rife with uncertainty (Berman et
al., 2001).
Identity foreclosure. The foreclosed individual is characterised as having chosen to
uncritically adopt and commit to a set of ideals and goals that, often, are held in high
esteem by someone else (i.e. a parent), without exploring viable alternatives beforehand.
This absence of exploration can mean that the individual is very closed-minded and rigid
and, to some degree, authoritarian (Marcia, 1967, 1980) with a tendency to report
idealised interpersonal relationships with the parents (Jackson, Dunham & Kidwell,
1990). Indeed, foreclosed individuals often choose to follow in the footsteps of their
parents by taking over the family business or training in the same profession as their
father without considering other career options (Archer & Waterman, 1990). This lack of
exploration, in conjunction with high levels of commitment, can cause the individual to
rely on their current circumstances to the extent that, if something were to thwart this
secure environment, he or she could go into crisis without a contingency plan to fall back
on (Marcia, 1994, 1995).

17
Diffused identity. This final status is deemed to be apathetic due to a lack of both
exploration and commitment, and so diffused individuals are predominantly disinterested
and therefore are most at risk of maladaptive outcomes, including academic and deviancy
problems (Berzonsky, 1985; Jones, 1992; Marcia, 1980). Among other symptoms of the
diffused state are poor interpersonal skills and emotional distancing between the
individual and loved-ones (especially the family; Adams et al., 1987; Jackson et al.,
1990), thus denoting an absence or confusion of the basic identity structure that allows a
person to ground himself in a functional manner in society and equip him with means to
make and proceed with positive and practical life choices (Schwartz, 2001). In light of
this, many diffused individuals fall into low-functioning social roles such as drifters and
drug users who fail to utilise many opportunities that they are presented with and, a result
of which is that they generally lack social support and understanding (ibid; Meeus &
Dekovic, 1995).
Occupational identity has received surprisingly little empirical attention, despite evidence
that demonstrates that occupational identity formation assists the development of global
identity (Skorikov & Vondracek, 1998). Vondracek et al. (1995) evidenced a reciprocal
relationship between these two facets of identity when they showed that high school
students with achieved global identity scored notably lower than those in other statuses
when career uncertainty was assessed. Bearing in mind that identity formation and the
development of an autonomous self are two of the foremost developmental tasks
undertaken in adolescence, it seems pertinent in relation to other adolescent developments
such as the expansion of social relationships, the growth of physical and cognitive
characteristics and abilities, all of which have perpetuating implications throughout the
life course (Erikson, 1968; Grotevant & Cooper, 1998; Nurmi, 1997; Ryan, Deci &
Grolnick, 1995; Zimmer-Gembeck & Mortimer, 2006), with particular salience in the
formation of occupational identity in adolescence. Indeed, for adolescents, the perceived
adult work role can be perceived to be a highly positive 'possible self' (Markus & Nurius,
1986; Zimmer-Gembeck & Mortimer, 2006). Early vocational development theorists,

18
such as Krumboltz & Thorenson (1964) and Vroom (1964), also placed a great deal of
emphasis on contextual features, especially social relationships (see also Super, 1963),
the recognition of which has led to important advances. Meeus et al. (1999) contended
that the distinction between open and closed domains of identity (that is to say, the
distinction between the ego identity statuses that engage in exploration and commitment
and those that lack significant levels of these processes) reflect on individuals' capacities
to select goals and activities, a capacity which is prone to societal characteristics such as
whether society is tight or loose (Triandis, 1989, 2000; Zimmer-Gembeck & Mortimer,
2006). Triandis (1994, 2000) asserts that in tight, simple cultures, people are
interdependent and conform to the collective, while individualism emerges in complex
and loose cultures. Indeed, links between many levels of environmental structure,
including cultural-organisational, relational and personal, have been identified as
influencing occupational identity formation (Jackson, 1995; Vondracek et al., 1983;
Zimmer-Gembeck & Mortimer, 2006). In summation, the consideration of environmental
allowances and restrictions in conjunction with occupational and academic development,
with especial stress on exploratory methods in the selection, construction and adaptation
to career trajectories, beliefs about goals and their pursuit and individual responses to
successes and failures in these pursuits has afforded researchers evidence of cultural
discrepancies in the formation of occupation identity (Hansen, Mortimer & Kruger, 2001;
Mortimer & Kruger, 2000; Zimmer-Gembeck & Mortimer, 2006).
Erikson & Erikson (1957/1995) foresaw the significance of intervening and redirecting
the actions and motives of young people towards more productive and functional roles in
life which could, at least to some degree, serve to dislodge certain social preconceptions
about the socially marginalised identity (Ferrer-Wreder et al., 2002). Research into work-
related values, a pertinent area of occupational identity research, has resulted in 4 broad-
spectrum work value categories; intrinsic values include the desire to develop the skills
and abilities necessary to succeed in a specific vocation, thus exhibiting both
responsibility and interest in the work (Ros, Schwartz & Surkiss, 1999; Super, 1980).

19
Extrinsic values see a focus on good wages, desirable work hours, comfortable work
environment, job security and the prospect of promotion (ibid), prestige values similarly
focus on status insofar as gaining positions of authority and achievement (Schwartz,
1999), while relational values centre on the desire to contribute to society and working in
conjunction with people (Ros et al., 1999). In the same vein, inter-cultural research
(involving 11 countries) demonstrated the primacy of intrinsic values among young
people, with utilitarian (extrinsic) values taking less precedence, although the rise of
individualisation in Western societies has seen a subsequent rise in extrinsic working
values in recent years (Sverko, 1999; Sverko & Super, 1995). Erikson (1968) went on to
hypothesise that effective identity interventions necessitate the provision of opportunities
that offer youth the means with which to develop the competencies that are requisite for
finding and redefining adaptive identity commitments throughout life (Ferrer-Wreder et
al., 2002; Waterman, 1994). The important thing to note, nevertheless, is that the focus
of these interventions should not be on providing youth with contrived direction, but
rather on the creation of reciprocal contexts in which they can form their own identity
competence of their own accord (Ferrer-Wreder, 2002; Freire, 1970/1983). However,
that being said, little is known about how these socially initiated stigmas affect the
development of children and adolescents, especially in light of diminished social support
(Sherrod, 1997).
1.3 SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS
Research into perceptions of social connectedness among adolescence appears to be a
recent phenomena; connectedness is a function of the need to belong (Baumeister &
Leary, 1995; Karcher, Holcomb & Zambrano, 2008), and it has been argued that if an
individual fails to experience belonging and relatedness in one social network, he or she
will seek other networks with which to connect in a compensatory act (Joo & Han,
2000). Indeed, there is, as yet, no theoretically derived measure of adolescent social
connectedness (Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2003) and thus, connectedness has seemingly

20
gleaned attention in light the emergence of an increasingly mobilised, post-industrialised
and multicultural society, which is thought to complicate or, in some instances, hinder the
formation of a stable sense of self and consequent feelings of well-being, which in turn
have been evidenced as strong predictors of academic and social functioning (Erikson,
1950; Harter, 1999; Karcher et al., 2008; Scales & Leffert, 1999). An individual's social
network, or ecology, can be viewed as consisting of 3 interdependent levels;
microsystems culminate through family relationships (parents/primary caregivers, sibling
etc), teachers and peers in school and the neighbourhood in which he/she lives;
macrosystems consist of the larger institutions that provide the setting for the
relationships within the microsystems, such as school, the family home and the
neighbourhood; and finally, the mesosystems are the processes of connection that serve to
connect the latter two systems, such as affective and behavioural engagements that are
potential catalysts for positive youth development, such as motivating behaviour with the
view to successfully pursuing a goal, (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Karcher et al., 2008), and
each of these systems can be conceptualised as being placed along a continuum of
conventionality (Jessor & Jessor, 1977). Conforming to convention dictates the
compliance with "rules or general custom” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 1982:
197), which is clearly antithetical to antisocial behaviour and academic disengagement
(Donovan, Jessor & Costa, 1998). However, autonomy is a crucial aspect of adolescent
identity development (including occupational identity development; Blos, 1979; Erikson,
1968), so engaging in unconventional behaviour is intrinsically linked to this period of
development, so in order to avoid problem behaviours a stronger sense of connectedness
to the conventional world is imperative (Karcher et al, 2008). That is to say,
connectedness has its roots in positive relationships and experiences with not only close
others but social others as well, and these relationships nurture feelings of well-being and
competence. Karcher (2004) theorised that connectedness has several precursors, and for
the purpose of this study the following 4 have been focused upon: social and community
networks (perceptions of social relatedness and support); perceptions of prejudice (social

21
labelling and stereotype stigmatisation); attachment to family and perceptions of its
importance; and attitudes to politics and current affairs.
1.3.1 Social and Community Networks
Society as a whole is built on a foundation of commonly held beliefs and values, things
that were not borne out of nothingness but instead evolved out of their history (Elias,
1994 [1939]; Mead, 1934). With this in mind, while there is little doubt that the industrial
way of life has provided people with unprecedented levels of opportunity in terms of
literacy, comfort, longevity and so on, the price being paid for this is both heavy and far-
reaching. The relentless expansion of capitalism and the subsequent growth of
consumerism have resulted in the sacrifice of so much human feeling, especially for those
with the least power. Durkheim (1970 [1897]) forewarned of the 'insatiable and
bottomless abyss' of temptation and desire that would ultimately lead to widespread
feelings of suicide and anomie (Reith, 2004), and he also commented on 'the uneasiness,
anxiety, malaise, disenchantment, pessimism and other negative characteristics of his
age' (Mestrovic, 1991:75). The breakdown of these shared bonds of solidarity and the
meaningfulness found in shared participation can lead to feelings of alienation, leaving
the individual feeling rejected by society without any real incentive to contribute in a
productive or positive way (Durkheim, 1933; Giddens, 1971). What was once solid has
now atomised and ideas of a 'common culture' have been replaced with a new 'identity
politics' (Jenks, 2003:5); new insecurities have come to the fore, concerning both
relationships with others and the ownership of desires and there is an uncertainty
surrounding the basis of our belonging to another person. Indeed, it is hard to be militant
in a culture which lacks consolidated belief in any collective form or collective identity
(Jenks, 2003:6), thus rendering feelings of instability or uncertainty as unusually
privatised and therefore unlikely to extend beyond the individual or his/her immediate
circle. People now appear to espouse a new fear of commonality with others, the old
adage 'no man's an island' (Donne, 1624/1997) has seemingly ceased to be true, as people

22
seek to be self-sufficient and self-serving. However, this contemporary form of rebellion
brings with it neither utopianism nor nihilism, but instead, feelings of loneliness and
isolation. But is this new rebel a rebel by choice? As Jervis (1999) noted, there is a
tendency in the affluent and oppressive Western society to exclude and marginalise that
which is finds unconventional and thereby disagreeable and, by implication, unify,
consolidate and homogenise that which sustains the achievement of its core goals. The
individualization of society is inextricably bound to the individualization of self-hood; the
quest for increased freedom and inexhaustible achievements might appear to be all well
and good, but in the discarding of social aspirations in favour of personal gain it is ever
more likely that people will lose the ability to empathise with other members of society
(Beck, 1992). In the time of 'simple modernity' (Beck, 1992; Ferguson, 1997; Giddens,
1994), people formed their identities through external controls and institutions, such as
the church, their families and the practice of traditional values for it was a time. In a
post-traditional society, identity seems to have become a 'reflexive project' (Giddens,
1991) characterised by the tendency to live life according to a personal set of plans and
values. This is not to say that individuals are no longer firmly enmeshed in the social
sphere, for people do move through life planning and taking action within and through
institutional reference points (Ferguson, 2001) but as Beck and Beck-Gernsheim argue, to
be born into traditional society was to be socialised into its preconditions, but 'For
modern social advantages one has to do something, make an active effort not only once,
but day after day' (1996:25).
When considering social individualisation it is important to also consider the
consequences of having a supportive social system; perceptions of social support can
result in heightened feelings of social relatedness, defined as the sense of closeness and of
being valued by people and institutions outside the individual's microsystem in this study,
and the individual is thus given the incentive to reciprocate by connecting to the wider
social world by assigning positive affect and seeking continued interaction with it

23
(Baumeister & Leary, 1995). It is important to note that connectedness is not tantamount
to relatedness and belonging, it is a behavioural and attitudinal response to experiencing
those feelings (Karcher et al., 2008). In reference to the collective, relatedness results in
the experience of belonging, which is of paramount importance for adolescents, and how
valued and accepted an individual feels directly effects that individual's feelings of
connectedness and how concerned and involved he or she is in social functioning (ibid:
11). In the present social climate, which Triandis (2000) terms as complex and loose, the
lack of incentive to connect to the collective seems to be reflected in the portrayal of
more individualised, less conventional ways of functioning (Bond & Smith, 1996),
cohesive social networks are more likely to be characterised by a sense of social trust
(Kadushin, 2002).
1.3.2. Perceptions of Prejudice
Over 60 years ago, Gordon Allport hypothesised that one of the most worrying effects of
prejudice was that it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy in that those who belong to
what is deemed to be a minority group could inadvertently confirm what is expected of
them on the basis of their consensually shared beliefs (1954/1979). He illustrated the
very pervasiveness of prejudice and stigma in the statement “what would happen to your
personality if you heard it said over and over again that you are lazy and had inferior
blood? Suppose [further] this opinion were forced on you by the majority of your fellow
citizens. And suppose nothing you could do would change this opinion” (ibid: 142) A
particularly influential model of social stereotyping was put forward by Steele and
colleagues (1995, 2002), which posited that the activation of a negative stereotype will
induce anxiety in those who fall under that criteria due to the fear of confirming the
negative expectancy about the in-group, and as a result will detrimentally effect the
performance of minority members on those dimensions that are relevant to the stereotype
(Cadinu et al., 2006). This model of Stereotype Threat (ibid) has consistently

24
demonstrated performance deficits in minority groups, whether in ethnic minorities
(Steele & Aronson, 1995); gender differences (Spencer et al., 1999); students from low
socio-economic backgrounds (Croizet & Claire, 1998); or elderly people (Levy, 1996).
Becker argued that, in the process of labelling individuals '...deviance is not a quality of
the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules
and sanctions to an 'offender'. The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully
been applied' (1963:178). So how do these labels come into the fore? Who applies these
labels to whom and how do they become so pervasive? An obvious culprit is that of the
mass media; in the context of the media, concerns of moral debasement are never far
from the surface. The media can act as both a pedestal upon which to place a chosen
person or group, or a tool with which to flagellate something within the public arena, an
act that serves to dichotomise society through the unification of people under an umbrella
of accepted social beliefs against those who are deemed antithetical to these beliefs.
Indeed, it seems that a large proportion of the stories that make the headlines on news
programs and on the front pages are concerned with the rise of violent acts committed by
children and the decay of society's moral fabric, thus creating a culture of unease, distrust
and, in some areas, fear (Gerbner & Gross, 1976). Durkheim (1897/1999) also saw
homicide as inversely related to anomie and suicide; in times of strife and difficulty
people have the tendency to withdraw from life, and the fact that the 'average morality
has ruder character and human life is less respected', people will be more likely to kill
each other rather than themselves (1987/1999: 341). Thus he stated that a society's moral
and social environment was a crucial element in the determination of unnatural death
rates. If this is the case then is this culture of fear causing the issue of youth
marginalisation to become a self-fulfilling prophecy? After all, Rock (2002) opined that
the consequences of labelling are such that not only does the individual suffer from
unfavourable or even injurious treatment by others, but it also causes them to perceive
themselves in a deleterious manner, which also leads to potentially damaging effects on
their achievement rates. A study carried out by Chambliss (1973), involving two groups

25
of boys who attended the same school, The Saints and The Roughnecks, established that
the application of a label automatically leads to differential treatment. In his study,
Chambliss found that the working class Roughnecks were far more likely to be castigated
for delinquent behaviour than the middle class Saints.
Moral entrepreneurs (Becker, 1963), in an attempt to persuade others to adhere to
particular sets of values, start moral crusades so as to influence the public's attitudes
towards a specified issue. It is through this process that a moral panic may be created, in
that
'a condition, episode, person or group emerges to become defined as a threat to
societal values and interests: its nature is presented in a stylised and stereotypical
fashion by the mass medial the moral barricades are manned by editors politicians and
other right-thinking people; socially accredited experts pronounce their diagnoses and
solutions.' (Cohen, 1972:9)
The overall message to the public is that youth degeneracy is on the increase, despite
statistics testifying to its decrease. Since moral panics and moral crusades are
inextricably linked to the labelling and, some might say stereotyping because they evolve
around the fact that specific subpopulations or subcultures are becoming deviant (Schur,
1980), the attention could serve to exacerbate the situation. The Neo-Chicago School
(Matza, 1969) argued that the unconventional individual is ostracized, processed through
social control agencies (Lemert, 1951, 1967/1972), afflicted with formal degradation
ceremonies, institutionalised and is finally stigmatised with the socially reviled deviant
identity. The result has been to label groups of youths as deviant merely because they are
wearing a baseball cap and/or a hooded top, and this rise in speculation has caused a rise
in anxiety for both the youths in question and the general public. The resultant
stigmatisation is the societal process through which one conception of 'self' as normal and
therefore socially acceptable changes into 'another', viewed by the rest of society as
deviant, (Davis, 1972). While some youth subcultures may be shaped by protest and
devoted to resisting normative social values, it is not appropriate to demonise all young

26
people in this way. Rod Morgan, former Chair of the Youth for Justice Board, publicly
insisted that both the media and politicians stop referring to children as 'yobs' or 'feral',
arguing that Britain risked demonising an entire generation of young people, who were
supposed to be held up as the country's representatives for the future (The Observer, 22
May, 20051
).
1.3.3 Family and Marriage
Feelings of connectedness and experiences of relatedness in the formative years between
the infant and primary caregiver generally result in stable and positive attachment bonds
(Ainsworth, 1989; Bowlby, 1960), which in turn provide the child with foundational
sources of support and security. Furthermore, Chodorow (1978) argues that attachment
reflects the commencement behavioural reciprocation of affective experiences, such as
empathy, attention and praise, and these initially positive experiences permeate
throughout early childhood through to adolescence, allowing the individual to establish
prosocial relationships and interpersonal relatedness outside the family unit. With this in
mind, even in a subject as broad as social connectedness, it is important to at least give a
cursory look at perceptions of the importance of the family unit and the extent to which it
provided positive experiences in formative development.
1.3.4 Attitudes towards Politics and Current Affairs
Adolescents form both their identity and their world view, both of which are a result of
their increasing autonomy from their parents (Ter Bogt et al., 2001). Related to this is the
concept of youth centrism (ibid), which is defined as the rejection of commonly held
values by family and social institutions, or what might be referred to the "adult world",
thus implying an in-group-out-group distinction in which adolescents view the adult
world as the out-group (Rabbie & Horwitz, 1969; Ter Bogt et al., 2001). Youth centrism
1
As cited in Aldridge & Cross, 2008

27
accordingly encompasses the creation of social identity and social comparison or, in other
words, social categorisation (Tajfel, 1978). Therefore, adolescents that show an interest
in what they deem to be adult realms, such as politics and current affairs, have an
increased likelihood of positively comparing themselves with adults which insinuates the
presence of a positive basis for identity formation. However, Rahn & Transue (1998)
reported that the level of social trust among young people has declined and as a result,
they are less likely to take an interest or participate in politics (Astin et al., 1997; Smith,
1999). It has been theorised that increased social mobility and diminished community
connectedness are at least in part to blame for this phenomena (Smith, 1999), but it is
important to take into account the downward trend in adolescent participation in
community- and civic-run youth organisations (see section 1.3.1; Rasinski et al., 1993).
Indeed, participating in voluntary activities have been defined as a "web of cooperative
relationships between citizens" (Brehm & Rahn, 1997:999) and denotes a willingness on
the part of the youth to forge connections and interact with others (Steinberg, 1996).
Most notably, though, research suggests that up-coming generations appear to lack the
commonly held norms and values that in turn breed the incentive for social participation
(Bennett & Bennett, 1990). With this in mind, it has been posited that a strong internal
locus of control in relation to one's environment is positively correlated with prior studies
of social trust (Smith, 1999; Wrightsman, 1992), so perhaps a pervading feeling of
anomie preludes this lack of social trust. Several studies have demonstrated the failure of
educational institutions in getting young people interested in politics by highlighting the
adolescent penchant of paying more attention to the mass media and less attention to
world affairs (Côté & Allahar, 2005; Côté, 2006; National Geographic Education
Foundation, 2002), thus the failure culminates in a lack of positive influences on identity
formation.

28
1.4 THE PRESENT STUDY
Research in educational psychology has shown that relatedness to parents,
teachers and peers, and teacher expectations and supportiveness, are both
predictive of school motivation and engagement, and are correlated with both
academic and behavioural competence (Brophy, 1982; Furrer & Skinner, 2003;
Gest et al., 2005). Moreover, Arnett (2000) has determined that the socially-
embedded process of identity formation in contemporary society, with emphasis
on the transitional period between late adolescence and young adulthood, is more
related to the intangible processes of individualisation than to the more traditional
path marked by social roles (i.e. the completion of school followed by an
occupational role, marriage and rearing a family respectively; Green, 1990).
Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the centrality of social
connectedness as a predictor of academic motivation and occupational identity
status in adolescence by furthering the conceptualisation of perceptions of social
connectedness (defined as constituting of feelings of support, trust and
relatedness) versus marginalisation and disaffection (Furrer & Skinner, 2003) by
positing that adolescent perceptions of social connectedness will be positively
correlated to the development of academic motivation and more positively related
to the more advanced Occupation Identity statuses (achieved, moratorium, foreclosed)
and negatively related to the least advanced (diffused).

29
2. METHODOLOGY
2.1 PARTICIPANTS
A total of 240 participants took part in this study, of which 91 questionnaires were
available for analysis (38%), with the remaining 62% being eliminated from analysis due
to being incomplete.
Three secondary schools took part in the study; each school was located in different areas
of London, with one being situated in the South West of the city, one in the South East
and the final school in the North of London. The sample consisted of 91 adolescent
students from each school's Year 10, aged between 14 and 15 (M = 14.63; SD = .486).
Each school was specifically chosen to be non-denominational and of mixed gender, a
copy of each school's OFSTED report is shown in Appendix 1. Of the 91 participants,
48.4% were male (N = 44) and 51.6% were female (N = 47). 24.2% of the students
involved stated their nationality to be Black African, 12.1% were White British and 22%
put themselves down as White (Other) and 3.3% chose not to specify. Table 1 presents a
full account of the descriptive data for the different nationalities in the sample:

30
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Afro-Caribbean 5 5.5 5.5 5.5
Indian 2 2.2 2.2 7.7
Bangladeshi 1 1.1 1.1 8.8
Chinese 3 3.3 3.3 12.1
Mixed-Parentage 8 8.8 8.8 20.9
Black African 22 24.2 24.2 45.1
Black (other) 5 5.5 5.5 50.5
White British 11 12.1 12.1 62.6
White (other) 20 22.0 22.0 84.6
Don't want to answer 3 3.3 3.3 87.9
Other 11 12.1 12.1 100.0
Total 91 100.0 100.0
Table 1. Nationalities of Study Participants

31
2.2 RECRUITMENT METHODS AND PROCEDURE
Initially, the heads of Years 10 and 11 in over 20 schools were contacted via telephone,
using the Edubase Public Portal2
2.3 MEASURES
to select schools suitable for the study. Once the three
schools agreed to participate, a letter was sent to each school's head of Year 10 (see
Appendix 2), further detailing the aims of the study and explaining in more depth the
measures used and their functions, and the fact that the questionnaires would take
between 20 and 25 minutes to complete. The heads of year in each of the three schools
informed the students' parents of the study and its aims, and asked permission for their
children to partake in the study. It was also suggested that the questionnaires be filled out
during form time and that the author of the study could come down to the school to talk
the children through the questionnaire and any questions that they may not understand.
However, each of the participating schools insisted on over-seeing the filling out of the
questionnaires themselves, and instead informed the author via email when it was time to
pick them up. Many of the schools that were contacted declined to participate due to
being under-resourced and/or short of time, or had other projects to attend to at the time.
Three subscales were used in this study (social connectedness, motivation, and
occupational identity formation), and they were presented in the questionnaire in the form
of:
1. Section 1: A self-reported questionnaire assessing the participant's feelings of Social
Connectedness (Social Connectedness Scale or SCS)
2. Section 2: The Motivational Scale section of the "Motivated Strategies for Learning
Questionnaire" (MSLQ) (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia & McKeachie, 1991, 1993)
2
www.edubase.gov.uk

32
3. Section 3: The Occupational Identity Scale (OIS) (Melgosa, 1987).
A copy of the questionnaire in its entirety is shown in Appendix 3. The first page of the
questionnaire displays some information about the aims and nature of the study and also
informs the participant that it is being carried out by a Masters student from the Institute
of Education. It goes on to assure the participant that no names are required, that any
information given is anonymous, that the data will be held in the strictest of confidence
and that the participant may decline to answer a question or withdraw from the study if
they so wished. Finally, the participant is given the choice of either noting down their
nationality or choosing not to answer.
2.3.1 Assessing Social Connectedness
The first section of the questionnaire consisted of 46 self-reported questions, each
measured by a 5-point likert scale (1= no opinion; 2= not at all true of me; 3=
occasionally true of me; 4= often true of me; 5= always true of me). This scale was
reversed for items 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 43, which were formulated negatively. The
author constructed this section herself; all 46 questions sought to assess feelings of social
connectedness by focusing on issues such as:
1. Social and Community Networks: Questions such as "I feel like I
belong", "I have the choice of joining in community-run projects after school", "I feel like
I am valued by society", "I feel wary or afraid when a stranger is friendly to me", and "I
feel that there are very few people I can trust completely" are asked in light of the fact
that the breakdown of social networks and links with the local community has been
associated with individualisation and the subsequent decline in social trust (Johnston &
Jowell, 1999). Indeed, when a 1998 survey asked people about trusting a stranger, 71%
stated that they didn't (Park, Phillips & Johnson, 2004).

33
2. Social labelling & Perceptions of Prejudice: Research has shown that
young people in Britain have varied views as to how prejudice society is, and on the
whole it has been shown that they feel that the issue of racism is markedly better than it
was 10 years ago (from 39% in 1994, citing severe racism against black people to 20% in
2003; Park, Phillips & Johnson, 2004: 46). However, the author of this study also
includes negative social labelling in her definition of prejudice, for it has been evidenced
that social labelling and/or the incitement of stereotyping can have detrimental effects on
locus of control and motivation, and feelings of well-being, often leading to feelings of
social exclusion and segregation (Allport, 1954/1979; Cadinu et al., 2006; Link & Phelan,
2001; Rotter, 1966). Hence, questions such as the following were asked: "I feel that my
national identity is an important reflection of who I am", "I feel that others respect my
national identity", "I feel that I am capable of achieving anything regardless of my race",
"I feel that people make inaccurate judgements of me based on my appearance", and "I
feel that public officials (police officers, teachers, public transport staff etc) often deal
with people like me fairly".
3. Family Life & Marriage: There has been a shift in attitudes towards
sex, marriage and parenthood in the last 50 years, with pre-marital sex and the decline of
the nuclear family unit becoming increasingly prolific (Barlow et al., 2001). This is
particularly evident in young people and there has been a sharp increase in the acceptance
of single-parent families; Park, Phillips & Johnson (2004) reported that while 55% of
young people felt that one parent was sufficient to bring up a child in 1994, 71% of young
people condoned this view by 2003 (pp. 5). It has been a widely held view that a stable
family life can have positive effects that continue to permeate throughout the life course
(Bowlby, 1960) and so familial stability and parental involvement can help equip a child
with resilient characteristics that might serve to stave off the negative effects of social
prejudice (Rutter 1987; Garmezy 1983; 1985; 1991; Masten & Coatsworth 1998).
Therefore, questions such as "I think marriage is important", "I feel that my parents
would support me in anything I undertake" and "My parents help me with my school

34
work" are aimed at ascertaining levels of parental involvement and the importance the
participants attribute to family.
4. Attitudes towards Politics and Current Affairs: Park (1999)
demonstrated that political awareness and interest among young people has declined since
1994, with 18% of teenagers deeming voting as 'a waste of time' (Park, Phillips &
Johnson, 2004: 3). This disinterest in politics could denote a general sense of apathy or
cynicism, a view that is seemingly supported by the fact that the proportion of young
people who supported a particular political party fell from 68% to 39 % between the years
of 1994 and 2003 (ibid: 30). Therefore, questions such as "I feel that it matters whether
or not I vote when I'm older", "I feel that I can trust politicians", "I am opinionated when
it comes to current affairs", "I read and take an interest in the news", "I believe that
people should obey the law without exception" and "I am in favour of increased
government spending on unemployment benefits" are asked in order to measure the
participant's level of interest in what goes on in society.
During the construction of this scale, the author canvassed the opinions of supervisors,
lecturers and colleagues as to which questions should be used in the finalised version.
Reliability and validity tests were carried out on this scale in the absence of a pilot study,
the results for which are displayed below in section 2.4 (see Table 2).
2.3.2 Motivation for Learning
The motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLQ; Pintrich, Smith, Garcia &
McKeachie, 1991, 1993) is a self-report questionnaire comprised of three sections
(motivation, learning strategies and student management of different resources); in this
study only the motivation component was used, with each of the 31 questions relating to
both Maths and English. The items are scored on a 5 point likert scale, from 1 (never) to
5 (always), and they are based on the three general motivational constructs of expectancy,
value and effect. (Duncan & McKeachie, 2005; Pintrich, 1988, 1999). The expectancy

35
constituent applies to the participant's beliefs as to whether or not he/she can accomplish
a task or activity and two MSLQ subscales (self-efficacy for learning and performance
(Alpha > .93, Pintrich et al., 1993), and example of an item within this subscale is "I
believe I will receive an excellent grade in this course", and control of learning beliefs
(Alpha > .68, ibid), and example being "If I study in appropriate ways, then I will be able
to learn the material in this course") are subsequently directed towards assessing
perceptions of specific task-related confidence and the likelihood of successful
accomplishment, and perceptions of locus of control (i.e. whether or not success is
contingent on external factors such as the teacher involved or luck, or internal factors
such as one's own effort and skill). The items focused on value relate to the reasons
students hold for either engaging in a specific task or for choosing not to make any effort,
and are based in both achievement goal theory and expectancy-value theory (Duncan &
McKeachie, 2005); three subscales are utilised to measure these items: intrinsic goal
orientation (Alpha > .74, Pintrich et al., 1993, for example "In a class like this, I prefer
course material that really challenges me so I can learn new things") assesses focus on
learning and mastery; extrinsic goal orientation (Alpha > .62, ibid, for example: "Getting
a good grade in this class is the most satisfying thing for me right now") assesses the
student's emphasis on grades and the approval of others as a motivating factor; and task
value beliefs (Alpha > .90, ibid, for example "I think I will be able to use what I learn in
this course in other courses") measure judgement of how interesting, useful and
important each course is to the student (ibid: 119). Finally, the affect construct serves to
assess levels of performance-related anxiety and concern when undertaking tests and
exams, and is measured through the test anxiety subscale (Alpha > .80, ibid, an example
of which is "I have an uneasy, upset feeling when I take an exam"). The development of
this instrument involved three significant waves of data collection in 1986, 1987 and
1988, with a collective sample of 1,771, and the analyses of these data collections
culminated in the finalised version of the MSLQ in 1993. The correlation coefficients of
the MSLQ subscales for the motivation scale are noted above where relevant.

36
See below (section 2.4 and Table 2) for the Cronbach alpha levels of the MSLQ in this
study.
2.3.3 Occupational Identity
The Occupational Identity Scale is a self-reported, 28 item questionnaire (Melgosa,
1987), scored on a 5-point likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree), with 3 being neither agree nor disagree. Melgosa (1987) tested for reliability and
validity using a sample of 417 and the four subscales, derived from Marcia's Identity
Status Paradigm and subsequent ego-identity statuses (1966), are detailed as follows:
achieved (Alpha > .87, ibid) is composed of 7 items (for example, "After analysing many
possible occupational options, I believe I have decided on a specific career");
moratorium (Alpha > .85, ibid) has 8 items (for example "At the present moment, I don't
know exactly what I want as a career, but I am examining several occupational
perspectives"); foreclosed (Alpha > .72, ibid) has 7 items, an example of which is "My
father/mother seem to enjoy so much in their occupation that I am going into his/her type
of job"; and finally, diffused (Alpha > .70, ibid) which consists of 6 items, such as
"Although I don't have a clear idea of what my occupation will be, I don't care at this
point". Developed with adolescents in mind, this instrument seeks to accurately measure
their occupational identities in relation to the aforementioned ego-identity statuses, at a
time when the assessment of future directions is most pertinent.
The levels of internal consistency for the OIS as used in the present study can be seen
below (see also Table 2).

37
2.4 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE SUBSCALES AND
THEIR CONSTRUCTS USED IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE
The internal consistency of the items that make up each subscale is an important aspect
to take into account when analysing data; Alpha coefficients according to Cronbach's
formula were therefore computed. In light of the fact that the sampling distribution of
Cronbach's Alpha is unstipulated and thus it is not possible to establish significant levels,
the interpretation of Cronbach's Alpha relies on the use of standard/guideline values.
That being said, an alpha value of .60 and below is regarded to be low, .70 is regarded as
adequate, a value between .70 and .80 is considered to be moderately high and a value
between .80 and .90 denotes a high level of internal consistency (Field, 2005).
As stated in Methodology subsection 2.3.1, the initial alpha value of the social
connectedness subscale was .86 ( = .86), while the initial alpha levels produced by the
other two subscales were as follows: MSLQ (for English and Maths combined), = .93
(Motivation for English, = .93; Motivation for Maths, = .88); Occupation Identity Scale
3. However, the coefficients for the four Connectedness subscales ranged
from low ( = .66) to moderately high ( = .82); to begin with, the first construct, Social
and Community Networks, produced a Cronbach's alpha that was below the acceptable
level of .
they had either very low or negative inter-item correlations caused the alpha to increase to
an acceptable lever (a= .78). Similarly, the deletion of three items (i.e. items 19, 23, and
46) in the Social Labelling and Perceptions of Prejudice construct increased the alpha
from a= .65 to a= 72. With the removal of these items, the alpha for the Connectedness
subscale increased to a= .90.
For the Motivation subscale, the alpha coefficients ranged from low (a= .55) to
moderately high (a= .80); the Cronbach's alpha for the Maths Task Value construct was

38
initially a= .55, but the deletion of item 4 increased the alpha to a= 079. For the sake of a
fair comparison, item 4 was then removed from the English Task Value construct, thus
increasing the alpha coefficients for both Motivation for English and Motivation for
Maths subscales (a= .92 and a= .91 respectively).
All four constructs in the Occupational Identity subscale were moderately high; the
internal coefficient alphas for all the subscales and their respective constructs that were
used to measure the variables in this study are shown in Table 2:

39
Table 2
Internal Coefficient Alphas for the Scales and Subscales Used in the Study (N = 91)
Measure Item N Alpha
Connectedness
Social and community networks
Perceptions of prejudice
Family and marriage
Attitudes towards politics
English motivation total
Intrinsic goal orientation
Extrinsic goal orientation
Task value
Control for learning beliefs
Self-efficacy
Test anxiety
Math motivation total
Task value
Self-efficacy
Test anxiety
36
11
10
3
12
30
4
4
5
4
8
5
30
4
4
5
4
8
5
.90
.78
.72
.66
.82
.92
.69
.72
.80
.62
.84
.69
.91
.68
.77
.79
.55
.86
.66

40
(Table 2 continued...)
Measure Item N Alpha
Occupational identity
Achievement
Moratorium
Foreclosure
Diffusion
7
8
7
6
.84
.84
.84
.82
3. RESULTS
3.1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
Four of the subscales (i.e., Prejudice, Family and Marriage, Motivation Total for English,
and Extrinsic Motivation for English) were somewhat skewed, that is to say the measure
of symmetry of the frequency distribution shows that the frequent scores are clustered at
the higher end of the distribution and the tail is leaning slightly towards the lower, more
negative scores (Field, 2005:745), but the remaining constructs were normally
distributed. The negative skewness of the constructs is not severe enough to cause the
distribution to deviate too far from the norm. Also, with a sample size of 91, the Central
Limit theorem (Wilcox, 2007) suggests that distributions can be considered normal for
the purposes of selecting statistical tests. Tables 3 and 4 display the means and standard
deviations for the subscales and their constructs:

41
Table 3
Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables Connectedness and Motivation in English (N =
91)
Variable Range Mean SD Skew
Connectedness
Social and community
networks
Perceptions of prejudice
Family and marriage
English motivation total
Task value
Self-efficacy
Test anxiety
59 to 168
13 to 55
15 to 50
3 to 15
17 to 56
45 to 140
5 to 20
6 to 20
6 to 20
6 to 20
10 to 40
5 to 25
125.27
35.27
38.16
11.62
40.32
109.59
14.45
16.80
15.58
15.02
30.31
17.43
22.001
7.71
6.60
3.08
8.99
18.27
3.11
3.11
3.26
3.17
6.11
4.41
-.75
-.39
-1.01
-1.08
-.35
-1.02
-.82
-1.08
-.86
-.66
-.70
-.56
Standard error for skew
values was .25.

42
Table 4
Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables Motivation in Maths and Occupational Identity
(N = 91)
Variable Range Mean SD Skew
Math motivation total
Task value
Self-efficacy
Test anxiety
Occupational identity
Achievement
Moratorium
Foreclosure
Diffusion
61 to 150
5 to 20
8 to 20
7 to 25
6 to 20
9 to 40
5 to 25
7 to 35
8 to 39
7 to 34
6 to 30
112.54
14.81
16.37
19.08
15.10
29.41
17.77
22.43
26.26
21.07
18.53
18.42
3.12
3.37
4.27
2.98
6.55
4.37
6.01
7.00
6.18
5.32
-.50
-.55
-.67
-.94
-.46
-.49
-.28
-.05
-.43
-.17
-.20
Standard error for skew values was .25.
3.2 RESEARCH FINDINGS
To test this study's hypotheses, statistical tests were carried out using SPSS, and the
output for these statistical analyses is located in Appendices.
3.2.1 Hypothesis 1: perceptions of social connectedness (social and community
networks, social labelling and perceptions of prejudice, Family and Marriage, and
Attitudes towards Politics) will be related to students' motivation in English and
motivation in Mathematics (intrinsic goal motivation, extrinsic goal motivation, task
value, self-efficacy for learning beliefs, control of learning beliefs and test anxiety).

43
To facilitate the investigation of the relationship between students' perceptions of social
connectedness and their motivation in academic performance, it was necessary to
ascertain whether or not the data was normally distributed. Upon establishing that it was
indeed normally distributed, albeit with slight negative skewness, through the use of
histograms (with normal curves3
), the Pearson's Correlation coefficient (or Pearson's r)
was carried out, the results for which can be seen in Tables 5 (English) and 6 (Maths).
3
See Appendix 4 for statistical analyses (SPSS output)

44
Table 5
Pearson Correlations between Connectedness and Motivation in English (N = 91)
Variable Total Intrinsic Extrinsic Task Control Efficacy Anxiety
Connectedness total
Social labelling and perceptions of prejudice
Family and marriage
.50
.42
.37
.45
.43
**
**
**
**
**
.46
.40
.34
.41
.40
**
**
**
**
**
.37
.25
.24
.31
.41
**
*
*
**
**
.43
.41
.27
.47
.33
**
**
**
**
**
.50
.44
.40
.43
.41
**
**
**
**
**
.50
.41
.44
.46
.39
**
**
**
**
**
.11
.09
.05
.06
.13
* p < .05. ** p < .01.

45
A correlation coefficient of +1 signifies a perfectly positive correlation between two
variables, while a coefficient (r) of -1 indicates a perfectly negative correlation;
interpreting correlation coefficients is dependent on the context and purpose of the data
(Cohen, 1988) and in light of this, a description of 'small', 'medium' or 'large' do not
denote a 'good' or 'bad' result. Indeed, mitigating circumstances within non-experimental,
socio-psychological studies can often mean that a correlation coefficient of .40 is medium
/large and therefore a significant correlation has been found, while the same correlation
coefficient found in an experimental design in which confounding variables can be
eliminated or controlled for could be considered small and therefore trivial (Cohen et al.,
2003). However, some indication of the magnitude of correlation coefficients is useful
and Cohen’s (1988) terminology is adopted here as follows: small, .10 - .30; medium, .30
- .50; and large, .50 - 1.0.
The findings in this study reveal that the Connectedness subscale and its constructs were
significantly correlated with five out of the six English Motivation constructs. The
relationship between the total subscale of connectedness (i.e. the sum of all four
constructs) and total motivation in English (i.e. the sum of all six constructs) was r= .50,
p <.001. There was not a significant correlation between Connectedness and its
constructs and Test Anxiety, r= .11, p < .31. It is interesting to see that for social
connectedness and self-efficacy beliefs in English r= .50, p < .001, suggesting a medium
to large correlation, and it is also evident that there is a large relationship between
connectedness and intrinsic motivation goal in English (r= .46, p < .001). Furthermore,
there is a statistically significant relationship between Social Labelling and Perceptions of
Prejudice and Self-Efficacy for Learning Beliefs (r= .44, p < .001), and between the
former construct and Control of Learning Beliefs (r= .40, p < .001). These results
generally support the hypothesis that perceptions of social connectedness are related to
motivation in English, and this is true for all the subscales.

46
The Connectedness subscale and its constructs were also, on the whole, significantly
correlated with the Maths motivation constructs except Test Anxiety, but the magnitude
of the correlations was smaller and more patchy (Table 6). The Social Connectedness
construct of Social Labelling and Perceptions of Prejudice was only significantly
correlated to Self-Efficacy for Learning Beliefs (r= .23, p < .03) and Task Value (r= .23,
p < .31). That being said, this study's findings are somewhat in support of the hypothesis
that social connectedness is related to motivation in Maths.

47
Table 6
Pearson Correlations between Connectedness and Motivation in Maths (N = 91)
Variable Total Intrinsic Extrinsic Task Control Efficacy Anxiety
Connectedness total
Social labelling and perceptions of prejudice
Family and marriage
.32
.29
.23
.31
.26
**
**
*
**
*
.26
.26
.17
.23
.21
*
*
*
*
.31
.25
.14
.30
.33
**
*
**
**
.31
.34
.23
.31
.21
**
**
*
**
*
.31
.31
.19
.24
.26
**
**
*
*
*
.23
.17
.23
.28
.14
*
*
**
.09
.06
.05
.03
.11
*p < .05. ** p < .01

48
3.2.2 Hypothesis 2: perceptions of social relatedness (social and community
networks, social labelling and perceptions of prejudice, Family and Marriage, and
Attitudes towards Politics) will be positively related to the more advanced Occupation
Identity statuses (achieved, moratorium, foreclosed) and negatively related to the least
advanced (diffused).
Upon establishing that the relevant data was normally distributed (see Appendix 4),
the parametric statistical test of Pearson's correlation coefficient was utilised in order
to explore the relationship between students' feelings of social connectedness and their
current occupational identity formations, the results of which are displayed in Table
7.
Table 7
Pearson Correlations between Connectedness and Occupational Identity (N = 91)
Variable Achieved Moratorium Foreclosed Diffused
Connectedness total
Social labelling and perceptions of
prejudice
Family and marriage
.52
.53
.37
.37
.43
**
**
**
**
**
.33
.34
.26
.27
.23
**
**
*
*
*
.37
.38
.32
.36
.22
**
**
**
**
*
.26
.28
.29
.25
.10
*
**
**
*
* p < .05. ** p < .01.
The research findings reveal that the Social Connectedness subscale and all 4 of its
constructs are significantly correlated with three of the Occupational Identity
constructs; the social connectedness construct, Attitudes towards Politics, was not
significantly correlated to the Diffused construct (r= .10, p < .35), while it is strongly
correlated to the Achieved construct (r= .43, p < .001). Social Labelling and

49
Perceptions of Prejudice is significantly correlated to all of the Occupational Identity
constructs with the exception of Moratorium, with which it is slightly less
significantly correlated (r= .26, p < .14). The summation of the connectedness
subscale's constructs were strongly correlated with the Achieved construct (r= .52, p <
.001), but revealed a slightly weaker correlation with the Diffused construct (r= .26, p
< .01). whilst the fact that the correlations between Social Connectedness and
Achieved, Moratorium and Foreclosed statuses are in the expected direction, the
correlation with Diffused was not.
Due to the unexpected finding that Social Connectedness was significantly related to
all the identity statuses, the relationships between statuses was explored further to
determine their orthogonality. Melgosa (1987) reported that the statuses were
relatively well separated, but it is evident from Table 8 that there is a marked
correlation between the statuses in the current data set.
Table 8
Pearson Correlations between Occupational Identity Statuses
Variable Achieved Moratorium Foreclosed Diffused
Moratorium
Foreclosed
Diffused
.440**
.585**
.401**
.637**
.650** .698**
*p <.50. ** p< .01.

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