Social Network Approaches to Understanding Peer Relationships and Positive Behaviors

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Peers are important socializing forces in childhood and adolescence who can serve as role models for a variety of positive social (e.g., helping or defending others) and academic behaviors (e.g., building literacy skills). In addition, positive behaviors can shape how children and adolescents form relationships with their peers. Social network approaches are particularly promising for characterizing the interplay between peer relationships and positive behaviors because they account for the broader peer context. The goal of this symposium is to highlight how social network approaches can contribute to our understanding of the development of positive social and academic behaviors in childhood and adolescence.

This symposium showcases three papers that use different social network approaches to understand positive social and academic behaviors in childhood and adolescence. The first paper uses exponential random graph modeling (ERGM) to explore associations between children’s prosocial behavior and their classroom social relationships. The second paper uses longitudinal stochastic actor-oriented modeling (SAOM) to understand the extent to which peers influence adolescents’ defense of peers against bullying and social cognitions related to defending. Finally, the third paper uses a permutation approach to examine how multilingual network size (i.e., the number of friendship ties to peers who speak more than one language) is related to children’s literacy skills. Dr. X, an expert in social network approaches and youth behavior, will serve as the discussant for this symposium. Dr. X will highlight theoretical and methodological themes across the three papers and offer suggestions for future research and practice.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University

Discussant

• Olga Kornienko, George Mason University

Individual Presentations

• Understanding Prosocial Behavior, Classroom Contexts, and Children’s Social Relationships: A Social Network Analysis - Presenting Author: Jenna Hyatt Beffel, Michigan State University; Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University

• Socio-Cognitive Processes and Peer-Network Influences in Defending and Bystanding - Presenting Author: Johannes Ashwin Rambaran, Universiteit Utrecht; Tiziana Pozzoli, University of Padova; Gianluca Gini, University of Padova

• Do Multilingual Friendships Predict Reading Comprehension for Elementary Students? - Presenting Author: Andrew Weaver, New York University; Michael J. Kieffer, NYU Steinhardt; Patrick Proctor; Elise Capella, NYU