Social Comparison, Academic Envy, and Achievement Behaviour Among Secondary School Students in Abuja

This study examines the relationships among social comparison tendencies, academic envy, and achievement behaviour among senior secondary school students in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory. Social comparison, the process by which individuals evaluate their academic standing relative to peers, generates emotional responses including envy and inspiration that can either motivate or undermine academic effort. The unique social ecology of Abuja's competitive secondary school environment provides an informative context for examining these dynamics. The study employs a cross-sectional survey design, recruiting 310 SS2 students from nine secondary schools across Abuja Municipal Area Council and Gwagwalada. The Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure, the Academic Envy Scale, and a behavioural academic investment inventory were used as instruments. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling and moderation analysis. Results indicate that frequent upward social comparison predicts both benign and malicious academic envy, with divergent outcomes. Benign envy motivates increased study effort and academic goal-setting, while malicious envy predicts competitive undermining behaviour including withholding notes and deliberate misinformation. Peer competition climate within the school moderated the comparison-to-envy pathway, with highly competitive climates amplifying malicious envy. These findings extend social comparison theory and the benign-malicious envy distinction to the Nigerian secondary school context. School counsellors in Abuja are encouraged to facilitate group discussions about healthy competitive behaviour and to foster classroom norms that emphasise personal progress over peer ranking. Keywords: social comparison, academic envy, achievement behaviour, secondary school, Abuja.