Academic Fallout: How Vicarious Suspension Influences an Individual’s Grade Point Average, Graduation, and College Attendance

• In Event: "Interpersonal Dynamics and Social Networks: The Impact of Conflict, Discipline, and Victimization"

Abstract

Research consistently shows that school discipline, particularly suspension, negatively affects educational outcomes. Recent studies have explored suspension’s social contagion within classrooms, schools, and friendship networks, showing that direct and indirect network connections to suspended peers influences an individual’s odds of future suspension. However, little is known about how these vicarious effects influence academic success through students’ social ties. This study uses three waves of The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health dataset, social network analysis techniques, and panel regressions to examine how vicarious suspension (i.e., peer suspension) impacts an individual’s grade point average (GPA), high school graduation, and college attendance. Findings indicate that vicarious suspension at wave 1 significantly lowers GPA at wave 2 and directly reduces high school graduation and college attendance of the individual at wave 3, with GPA mediating these effects indirectly. These results are held after controlling for network characteristics, individual suspension lagged, as well as peer and individual delinquency, substance use, and GPA. The study highlights the broader implications of suspension beyond the disciplined individual, emphasizing its ripple effects across friendship networks to impact academic success. These findings contribute to theoretical frameworks on stigma and inform practical approaches to school discipline policies.

Author

• Daniel Trovato, Northeastern University