Service, Activism, and Friendships in the High School Context: A Longitudinal Network Analysis

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Social Justice Praxis in K–12 Schooling Contexts

Abstract

Scholars recognize the importance of peer influence for youth civic development, but overlapping social processes have yet to be robustly disentangled. Informed by theories of sociopolitical development and critical consciousness, the present study used longitudinal social network analysis to examine peer socialization and friendship formation processes in relation to participation in service and activist activities at a high school serving primarily low-income Latinx youth (N=354). Results indicated that students exerted influence on their friends’ frequency of engagement in service activities and that co-participation in service contributed to friendship formation. Neither socialization nor friendship selection effects were present for activist activities, potentially attributable to a lack of school opportunity structures. Perceptions of inequities predicted activist behavior, but not service.

Author

• Christopher Wegemer, University of California - Los Angeles