Peer effects of friend and extracurricular activity networks on students’ academic performance

Citation

Fujiyama, Hideki; Kamo, Yoshinori; & Schafer, Mark (2021). Peer effects of friend and extracurricular activity networks on students’ academic performance. Social Science Research. vol. 97

Abstract

Relationships with peers are critical for many aspects of adolescent development, including academic outcomes. Incorporating social control, social learning, and social capital theories, we investigated connections between two types of peer networks, close friends and extracurricular activity (ECA) members, and students’ own academic performance. Social learning and bonding social capital perspectives posit that close friends should have a symmetrical effect, either beneficial or harmful, because they exert strong influences on adolescents. By contrast, social control and bridging/linking social capital perspectives suggest that ECA member influences should be asymmetrical as they amplify benefits from higher-performing ECA peers and minimize harmful influences from lower-performing ones. We used Add Health data to test our hypotheses. We found that the average friend GPA was positively associated (in the same direction) with student GPA, while ECA member GPAs were, as hypothesized, asymmetrically linked to student GPA. We discussed implications for educators and future research.

URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102560

Keyword(s)

Peer influences

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Social Science Research

Author(s)

Fujiyama, Hideki
Kamo, Yoshinori
Schafer, Mark

Year Published

2021

Volume Number

97

DOI

10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102560

Reference ID

9427