Achievement in a relational context: Preferences and influences in female adolescents

Friends' influence on achievement-related choices in female adolescents was investigated using the Thematic Apperception Test (H. Murray, 1943), in the context of self-in-relation theory (J. V. Jordon, A. G. Kaplan, J. B. Miller, I. P. Stiver, & J. L. Surrey, 1991). Two hypotheses were tested: (1) Achievementrelated stimuli will elicit stories with more unfavorable and conflicted outcomes than will affiliation stimuli; (2) Thematic representation of achievement will be more homogeneous in more highly cohesive peer groups. A multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures yielded significant results for Hypothesis 1. Thematic analysis of stories supported Hypothesis 2, showing …