Peer Recognition and Math Identity Development: A Longitudinal Network Perspective

• In Event: From Classmates to Friends: Understanding Peers’ Role in Student Motivation

Abstract

Objectives and Background
Most research on motivational beliefs emphasizes the influence of teachers and parents, but a student’s peer context is an equally important factor (Kilday & Ryan, 2022, Kinderman, 2016). One important way in which peers may shape motivational beliefs is through their perceptions of other students’ academic reputations. A student’s math identity is one such motivational belief (Hong & Perez, 2023), informed by recognition from oneself and others as being a math person (Gee, 2000). It follows that peers’ perceptions of a student’s academic reputation in mathematics should be associated with that student’s math identity. Pervasive gender stereotypes about math identities may also influence who is recognized (Starr, 2018).
Research Questions
1. What directional associations exist between peer recognition nominations and math identity in middle school math students?
2. To what extent does gender moderate the association from peer recognition nominations to math identity?
Based on prior studies (e.g., Godwin et al., 2016), we hypothesized that peer recognition nominations would predict and be predicted by math identity, and that gender would be a significant moderator. Distinct from prior work, our study took place in middle school classrooms, and we used longitudinal network models based on peer nominations rather than self-reports of perceived recognition.
Method
The analytical sample contained data from 14 Turkish middle school math classrooms across three time points in a spring semester. Participants included 458 students, 49.8% of whom identified as female.
To measure peer recognition networks, students nominated classmates whom they thought were “particularly strong in their understanding of math” (adapted from Sundstrom et al., 2024). Given the complexity of network data, a single item was used to assess math identity (“I am a math person”; adapted from Cribbs et al., 2021).
We specified stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOM; Snijders et al., 2010), which used repeated simulations to estimate probabilistic parameters (Table 1) that could explain the co-evolution of recognition networks with math identity for each classroom. A subsequent meta-analysis estimated group-level effects.
Results and Discussion
Network and meta-analysis were conducted using R (version 4.3.1; R Core Team, 2023) and the RSiena package (version 1.4.7; Snijders et al., 2024).
Results (Table 2) indicated that recognition nominations from others positively predicted subsequent math identity, and math identity positively predicted receiving later recognition nominations. No moderating effect of gender was detected. This provides evidence that peer recognition and math identity may have reciprocal relations that could contribute to stratification in students’ math identities over time. Importantly, the Q statistic (Cochran, 1954) indicated significant between-class differences for some effects, suggesting that classroom factors—e.g., teachers’ influence on peer dynamics (Vollet et al., 2017)—could affect this feedback loop. The absence of a moderating effect from gender suggests that peer recognition in middle school may not play a central role in explaining gender differences in math identity.
Our findings provide evidence for the co-development of math identity and peer recognition, demonstrating how SAOMs can help researchers better understand relations between motivational beliefs and peer dynamics.

Authors

• William Van Luven, Michigan State University

• Utku Caybas, Michigan State University

• Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University

• Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia, Michigan State University