Relationships among adolescents' perceptions of friends' behaviors, academic self-concept, and math performance (original) (raw)
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The big-fish-little-pond effect model explains individual differences in equally achieving students' academic selfconcept by the achievement level of their reference group. Taking into account the multitude of reference groups in students' everyday school life, this study investigates which reference frame (i.e., classmates or friends) matters most for students' academic self-concept. Our sample comprised 2987 students (50% boys) from Grade 6 in 112 elementary schools (174 classes). Three dimensions of academic self-concept (i.e., global academic, math, and language self-concept) were considered. Using multilevel modeling, we found the predicted negative effects of class-average and friend-average achievement on all three academic self-concept dimensions. When comparing the effect of both group-average achievement variables, we found that friend-average achievement always had a smaller negative effect than class-average achievement. Overall, these results suggest that, when evaluating their academic competencies, students do not primarily rely on the most local comparison source, but on the most informative one.
Friends' Influence on Academic Performance Among Early Adolescents: The Role of Social Status
Psykhe (Santiago), 2022
Educational research has shown that academic achievement and peer relationships are associated from early school years, where friends play a significant role in influencing students' school adjustment, attitudes, and behaviors. The present study examines how individual academic performance is associated with friendships among 240 5th and 6th graders. The information on students' friendships, academic performance, gender, popularity, and social preference was collected in a convenience sample from 8 classrooms of 2 private-subsidized schools in Santiago, Chile. Longitudinal social network analysis (RSiena) was used to study the co-evolution of academic performance and friendship dynamics, by assessing simultaneously selection and influence processes, and by incorporating social status covariates (popularity and social preference) as moderators of friendship selection and influence. Results showed that friendships were more likely to occur between same-sex peers and between st...
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Journal of youth and adolescence, 2018
Participating in school-based activities is linked to positive academic engagement and achievement, but less is known about how peer relationships within activities affect these outcomes. The current study examined friends in extracurricular activities as a predictor of academic outcomes in multiethnic middle schools in California. Specifically, the mediating role of school belonging, and interactions by ethnicity and type of activity, were examined in a sample including African American or Black, East or Southeast Asian, White, and Latino youth in extracurricular activities (N = 2268; M = 13.36 in eighth grade; 54% female). The results of multilevel mediational models suggested that school belonging mediated the link between friends in activities and academic outcomes, and these findings replicated across groups based on ethnicity and the type of activity in which one was involved in general. These results are discussed in terms of how activities can be structured to promote positi...
British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2011
Background. The literature has documented theoretical/conceptual models delineating the facilitating role of peer relationships in academic and non-academic outcomes. However, the mechanisms through which peer relationships link to those outcomes is an area requiring further research. Aims. The study examined the role of adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with same-sex and opposite-sex peers in predicting their academic performance and general self-esteem and the potentially mediating role of school engagement in linking these perceived peer relationships with academic and non-academic outcomes. Sample. The sample comprised 1,436 high-school students (670 boys, 756 girls; 711 early adolescents, 723 later adolescents). Method. Self-report measures and objective achievement tests were used. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed to test the hypothesized model and its invariance across gender and age groups. Results. Perceived same-sex peer relationships yielded positive direct and indirect links with academic performance and general self-esteem. Perceived opposite-sex peer relationships yielded positive direct and indirect links with general self-esteem and an indirect positive link with academic performance, but mediation via school engagement was not as strong as that of perceived same-sex peer relationships. These findings generalized across gender and age groups. Conclusion. Adolescents' same-sex and opposite-sex peer relationships seem to positively impact their academic performance and general self-esteem in distinct ways. It appears that school engagement plays an important role in mediating these peer relationship effects, particularly those of same-sex peer relationships, on academic and non-academic functioning. Implications for psycho-educational theory, measurement, and practice are discussed. Each day at school, students strive to cope with a variety of academic and social challenges. Accordingly, school is often positioned as a context in which students'
The Intertwined Nature of Adolescents’ Social and Academic Lives
Journal of Advanced Academics, 2017
The relations of academic and social goal orientations to academic and social behaviors and self-concept were investigated among academically talented adolescents (N = 1,218) attending a mastery-oriented academic residential summer program. Results supported context effects in that academic mastery goal orientations predicted academic (in-class engagement, scholastic self-concept) and general outcomes (global self-worth selfconcept) more than any other goal orientation. There were also gender differences such that academic mastery goal orientations predicted course performance and responsible classroom behavior only for girls, whereas for boys, academic mastery goal orientations were positively related to close friendship self-concept. The relation of social goal orientations to social outcomes also varied by gender. For instance, social development goal orientations were uniquely associated with social self-concept for girls, whereas there were some unique patterns regarding social demonstration-avoidance goal orientations for boys. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Journal of School Psychology, 2018
Extending past research on the academic benefits of having close friends in early adolescence, the study examines how instability of friendships (i.e., losses and gains of friends) is related to academic engagement and performance in middle school. The sample was drawn from a longitudinal study of ethnically diverse youth across 26 middle schools (N = 5991). The results demonstrated that over two thirds of friends were either lost or gained during the first year in middle school. When controlling for friendship network size, both friendship losses and gains were concurrently associated with lower academic engagement and performance at spring of sixth grade. Moreover, higher overall instability during the first year in middle school was related to lower academic engagement in seventh grade, which in turn, predicted lower grade point average (GPA) by the end of middle school. The findings suggest that friendship instability captures a disruptive social process that can compromise academic functioning in middle school.
Journal of Early Adolescence, 2011
The present study examines the relative role of three distinct types of peer relationships (reciprocated friendships, frequent interactions, and shared group membership) in within-year changes in academic self-concept and engagement before and after the transition to middle school (fifth and seventh grade). In a series of linear regression analyses, main effects of each peer type's academic self-concept and engagement on changes in youths' academic characteristics were used to test socialization processes. Interactions of youths' academic skills with those of each peer type were used to test social comparison processes influencing changes in academic selfconcept. Results suggest unique roles of each peer relationship differentially influencing changes in youths' academic adjustment as well as stronger influence effects during seventh than fifth grade. Implications are discussed in terms of distinct influence processes associated with each peer relationship by muhammad ardi on type as well as potential developmental differences in the role that certain peer relationships play.
Review of Psychology, 2007
The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between social and academic variables in different school periods and to investigate, whether affective and motivational factors can be regarded as mediating variables in the relation between social and academic variables in school. 1159 students from three different periods of schooling, covering the age range from late childhood through early to middle adolescence, participated in the study. Different models of relations between social and academic variables were tested using structural equation modeling. The results show that the included mediating variables (well-being in school and academic engagement) do not explain the relation between social relations and academic achievement. In younger students, peer relations are related to students' academic achievement, which does not hold true for both older age groups. Relations to teachers are related to students' academic outcomes in all periods of schooling. The results also suggest that the method of data assessment is a very important factor in establishing the relations between variables.
Reputations Matter: Peer Expectancy Socialization among Adolescents in the Classroom
2019
Peers play a crucial role in the development of adolescents' self-beliefs and behaviors. This multiple manuscript dissertation consists of two standalone studies examining peer processes in math and science classrooms among adolescents. One way that peers have been shown to matter for students' adjustment is through peer academic reputations, or PAR, which captures the overall opinions and expectations of peers regarding a specific classmate's academic ability. In the first study of my dissertation, I expand upon prior research on PAR (which has primarily been conducted with young children in the elementary school context) by examining the association of PAR with early adolescents' academic self-concept, intrinsic value, academic worry and engagement in math and science classes. I compare girls and boys in the last year of elementary school (5 th grade) and the first year of middle school (6 th grade). Results of analyses with hierarchical linear modeling showed that PAR at the beginning of the school year predicted changes in students' academic self-concept, worry, and engagement (but not intrinsic value) from fall to spring, controlling for fall levels. Furthermore, PAR was found to operate similarly for girls and boys in both the elementary and middle school context. The second study in this dissertation concerns the underlying mechanism of the effect of PAR by examining expectancy socialization among peers in middle school math and science classrooms. First, I develop a new survey assessment to measure peer communication of expectancy cues and conduct exploratory factor analysis to determine whether students perceive distinct types of expectancy cues from peers. Three factors corresponding to praise, criticism, and help emerged from the EFA. Second, I test whether the three types of expectancy cues are related to PAR and academic self-concept concurrently and over time. Using structural equation modeling, I investigate whether expectancy cues partially mediate the association of PAR with academic self-concept across the school year. Correlations indicated that, in general, help and praise were significantly positively related to PAR and academic self-concept for both girls and boys, whereas the associations of criticism were vii weaker and in the opposite direction, and only emerged for boys. Structural equation modeling revealed that help expectancy cues, but not praise or criticism, partially mediated the association of PAR with academic self-concept. Thus, students known as "smart" are more frequently approached for help by peers, and these helping interactions are related to increased academic self-concept over time. There was evidence that gender moderated the relationship between expectancy cues and academic self-concept, such that help and praise expectancy cues were more strongly related to academic selfconcept for boys than girls. With insight into how expectancy socialization occurs among peers in math and science and the role of gender in this process, this work is a key step in understanding the development and implications of PAR during adolescence. Taken together, the two studies in this dissertation contribute new information about how peer interactions in the classroom provide a context for the socialization of students' academic self-beliefs and behaviors in math and science
Adolescence, 1998
Although it has been widely assumed that the two domains of social and academic competence are independent, significant positive correlations have recently been found. The present study focused on peer judgments of social competence. Data on 157 secondary school students revealed significant negative correlations. Further analysis was based on Coleman's (1961) explanation that intellectual students are willing to work hard at a relatively unrewarded activity. The results here confirm this view; a significant interaction effect was found for academic effort, academic subject, and academic achievement. It is argued that the contrasting correlations between academic and social competence may be explained by the various operationalizations of social competence.