The coevolution of adolescent friendship networks and school outcomes

Abstract

Adolescent underachievement and school disengagement are major problems with far-reaching consequences for both students and society. Approximately 25% of students in the U.S. do not graduate from high school (Education Week, 2013), and new and innovative interventions are of critical importance to raise the graduation rate to an acceptable level. The promotion of positive friendships may be one avenue for achieving this goal (Kindermann, 2007; Ryan, 2001). However, a better understanding of the relationship between friendships and school engagement is needed before we can determine if the promotion of positive friendships is likely to lead to academic engagement and effective interventions can be developed. Specifically, one key issue that is not fully understood is the interplay between influence and selection processes. Thus, the present study examined the extent to which adolescents become increasingly similar to their friends over time on school outcomes (i.e., influence processes) and the extent to which adolescents seek out other students to befriend over time that are already similar on these outcomes (i.e., selection processes) using a new modeling strategy, stochastic actor-based modeling, among 6th and 7th grade students. A significant selection effect was found for GPA; however, no other significant selection or influence effects were found for school bonding, values of education and achievement, or attendance. The results also show that gender did not moderate the effect of selection or influence for any of the school outcomes. Implications for prevention are discussed.