Objectives and Conceptual Framework For decades, a considerable amount of research has examined the role that teacher support plays on early adolescents’ functioning in schools. Nevertheless, insufficient emphasis has been placed on teacher affective support even though research points out the need for the assessment of the role of affective learning environments on students’ motivational, social, emotional, and academic outcomes (Turner, Meyer, Midgley, & Patrick, 2003; Wentzel, 2003). In the present study, in order to address this issue and to test the function of teacher affective support in middle schools, a hypothesized structural model was tested. The purpose of the study was to explore the link among perceived teacher affective support, sense of belonging, academic enjoyment, academic self-efficacy, and academic effort in mathematics classrooms. Person-environment fit and social-cognitive theories were adopted for this investigation. An extensive literature review led to the extraction of the following teacher affective support components: Caring attitude, respect, concern for and interest in students, valuing, encouragement, high expectations, listening, recognition, and fair treatment. Teacher affective support, in its entirety, has not yet been examined in relation to academic self-efficacy, academic emotions, and academic effort although its effect is partially known for students’ sense of belonging (Goodenow, 1993b; Osterman, 2000). Because students often report low academic self-efficacy and negative emotions in mathematics classrooms, the present study was conducted in relation to mathematics classrooms to find out the potential means to increase students’ positive emotions and help them built higher academic self-efficacy in mathematics. Dorman (2001) criticized academic efficacy theory for failing to recognize the potential impact of classroom psychosocial factors on students’ academic efficacy. He suggested the structural examination of the relationship among classroom environmental factors, students’ academic self-efficacy, and academic outcomes. Therefore, the current investigation, first, involved the development of the Teacher Affective Support Scale and, then, the test of a hypothesized model. Research Hypotheses For this investigation, a hypothetical structural model was developed. It was hypothesized that higher perceived teacher affective support would be related to greater sense of belonging, academic enjoyment, academic self-efficacy, and academic effort in mathematics classrooms. Similarly, greater perceived sense of belonging would be associated with higher academic enjoyment, academic self-efficacy, and academic effort. It was predicted that academic enjoyment would have a positive relationship with academic self-efficacy and academic effort; and academic self-efficacy would be positively associated with academic effort in mathematics.

Participants Five public middle schools located in three urban and two suburban schools in a Midwestern city of U.S.A. participated in the study. A total of 317 seventh- and eighth- grade students responded to the survey. Instrument An instrument structured on a 5-point Likert-type scale was prepared through the modification of eight existing instruments and the development of several items based on the related theory and research. Two pilot studies were conducted with the participation of 138 seventh- and eighth-grade students. The reliability estimates in the final 55-item instrument were calculated based on the second pilot study (N= 99). The reliability estimates for Teacher Affective Support (9 items), Sense of Belonging (8 items), Academic Enjoyment (6 items), Academic Self-efficacy (8 items), and Academic Effort (5 items) were .88, .88, .84, .94, and .91, respectively. Data Analysis Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Statistical calculations were performed using AMOS.

The findings of this study showed the powerful influence of teachers on students’ motivational and academic outcomes in mathematics classrooms. Students who reported higher teacher affective support were likely to report greater sense of belonging, higher academic enjoyment, and greater academic self-efficacy. Perceived teacher affective support was also significantly indirectly related to academic enjoyment, academic self-efficacy, and academic effort through the potential mediational processes involved in the structural model. Perceived teacher affective support was indirectly associated with academic enjoyment and academic self-efficacy through the potential mediation of sense of belonging and, also, indirectly related to academic effort through the potential mediation of academic enjoyment and academic self-efficacy. Overall, the structural model explained 48% of the variances in students’ sense of belonging and enjoyment, 43%, and 34% of the variances in their self-efficacy beliefs, and effort in mathematics classrooms, respectively. Studies examining this phenomenon in European contexts are needed.