2-194 - The Roles of Friendship Relations and Peer Status in Adolescents’ Academic Development: Innovative Designs and Analyses

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Adolescents’ academic development is important for their future occupations. However, it is not well understood to what extent peer friendships and status processes play a role in this development (Veenstra, Dijkstra, & Kreager, 2017). This symposium brings together three studies that used innovative designs and analyses to investigate peer relationships in the development of adolescents’ academic achievement, school engagement, and motivation.
The first study adopted a person-centered approach to examine how different dimensions of peer status co-occur within individuals. Moreover, the study investigated how these classes relate to adolescents’ school engagement and motivation during secondary school. Result revealed high, average, and low peer status classes with differences in academic developments.
The second study used social network analysis (RSiena) to study if peers select each other as friends based on academic achievement and whether friends become more similar over time in their academic achievement. Results showed developmental differences in friendship selection (7th grade) and influence processes (8th grade).
The third study, taking a social network approach, focused on selection and influence processes regarding adolescents’ school engagement. Results indicated that the degree to which peer selection and influence effects occurred varied by dimension of school engagement. Moreover, evidence was found for moderation by academic achievement.
Taken together, this symposium combines international (Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland) and longitudinal research that covers early, mid, and late adolescence. It provides insights in the interplay between adolescents’ peer networks and their academic behaviors in classrooms, denoting the significant role of peer relationships in adolescents’ academic development.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chairs

• Maaike Engels, KU Leuven

• Mariola Gremmen, University of Groningen

Discussant

• Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University

Individual Presentations

• Adolescents’ Peer Status Profiles and Developmental Differences in Engagement and Motivation: A Person-Centered Approach. - Presenting Author: Maaike Engels, KU Leuven; Hilde Colpin, University of Leuven (KU Leuven); Karla van Leeuwen, KU Leuven; Patricia Bijttebier, KU Leuven; Wim Van Den Noortgate, KU Leuven; Stephan Claes, KU Leuven, University of Leuven; Luc Goossens, KU Leuven; Karine Verschueren, University of Leuven (KU Leuven)

• First Selection, then Influence: Developmental Differences in Friendship Dynamics Regarding Academic Achievement. - Presenting Author: Mariola Gremmen, University of Groningen; Jan Kornelis Dijkstra, University of Groningen; Christian Steglich, University of Groningen; Rene Veenstra, University of Groningen

• Examining Peer Selection and Socialization Effects on Emotional, Cognitive and Behavioral School Engagement During Adolescence. - Ming-Te Wang, University of Pittsburgh; Noona Kiuru, University of Jyväskylä; Presenting Author: Katariina Salmela-Aro, University of Jyväskylä, Finland