Poster #230 - Friendship-Making: How Military-Connected Youth Cultivate Social Networks

• In Event: 2-110 - Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Military-connected adolescents (MCAs) are considered at-risk: high mobility and parental deployment rates present challenges to active-duty military dependents (learning gaps, suicide ideation, bullying victimization, etc.) (Astor, Jacobson, & Benbenishty, 2012; De Pedro, Astor, Gilreath, Benbenishty, & Esqueda, 2013; Esqueda, Astor, & De Pedro, 2012; Exum, Coll, & Weiss, 201;1Park 2011). The military community includes youth from diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Friendships are given special attention during early adolescence: formative years when friendships become more intimate and children go through various developmental transitions (Bernt, 1982).

The integrated mixed-methods (Yoshikawa, Weisner, Kalil, & Way, 2008) study took place at a large military-dense middle school in Southern California. Participants included enrolled eighth-grade students, ages 13-15 (N = 205) who participated in an initial survey. UCINET’s NetDaw (Borgatti, Everett & Freeman, 2002) was used to map and measure social network survey data (e.g. density, centrality). A subset of 17 MCAs participated in focus group interviews. Military-connected status was defined as children of civilian, enlisted or officer parent(s). MCAs were more racially and socioeconomically diverse than their civilian counterparts. During focus groups, MCAs created ego network artifacts: a friendship network and a support network (including peers, family, and other helping adults). Ego networks were analyzed and compared, using Blau’s Index (a ratio of network diversity). Focus group transcripts were indexed and coded (a priori and emergent) for themes related to research questions.

MCAs identified both military and civilian friends in their friendship networks. Enlisted (n = 27) and officer MCAs (n = 25) were represented evenly in the network sample. Enlisted MCAs participated in more military-dense clusters than officer MCAs, whose friendship networks included more civilians. Density matrices indicated that MCAs were more likely to be friends with MCAs of the same rank. Focus group participants also drew support networks (including friends, family, and other supportive individuals). Family mobility was positively correlated with military-civilian diversity in support networks, measured by Blau’s Index (r = .58, p <.05).

MCAs described receiving differential social support from civilian vs. military-connected friendships and described actively building social capital through their friendship networks. Civilian friends (permanent community residents) brought stability and school/community knowledge, while military friends “got them” - supported them through challenging shared experiences. MCAs described family mobility as both challenging and an opportunity for developing strengths: social skills, coping strategies, etc. There was no association between GPA and mobility, however, there was a near-significant negative association between deployment and GPA (r = -.25, p = .10). Consistent with the literature, achievement gaps persisted (Esqueda et al., 2012): MCAs reported lower GPAs than their civilian peers; officer MCAs reported significantly higher GPAs than enlisted, t(43) = -3.61, p = .001.

This study is significant because it documented patterns and variations in the social and academic experiences of an understudied diversity group in US schools. This study highlights the importance of fostering friendship networks for highly mobile youth. MCAs benefit from having rich social support networks (O’Brien, 2007). The challenge will be if and how educators and families facilitate friendship-making across multiple geographic moves.

Author

• Alison Michelle Black, University of California, San Diego
  Presenting Author