Who Picks Punished Peers? How School Discipline and Attachment Shape Friendship Selection

• In Event: Punitive Practices in Education: Correlates of School Discipline

Abstract

Researchers have provided much evidence that peers shape criminological and educational outcomes (e.g., delinquency, scholastic achievement) through normative influence. However, how individuals initially befriend dissimilar peers—which is necessary for influence to occur—is less understood. Integrating insights from criminology, education research, and social network analysis, I test whether low school attachment increases the likelihood of selecting friends who experience high rates of school-based punishment. I used a subset of data from the first wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) that included youth respondents nested in 640 classrooms (mean size=20.9 students) in Sweden, England, Germany, and The Netherlands. Meta-analysis of exponential random graph models (ERGMs) applied to classroom-based friendship networks revealed that similarity in school punishment and attachment increased the probability of friendship selection among dyads. However, even after accounting for these forms of homophily and endogenous network processes, the probability of friendship selection rose as an ego’s low school attachment and an alter’s school punishment increased. This study provides additional insight into how youth form friendships with peers who potentially place youth at increased risk of subsequent school-based punishment.

Author

• Brian Soller, University of Maryland, Baltimore County