Poster #230 - Social Acceptance and Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Study

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

An extensive literature suggests that positive peer relationships are related to children’s academic success, with peer acceptance predicting more positive outcomes than peer rejection. Theoretical perspectives suggest that peer relationships may directly promote academic achievement through interactive problem solving that facilitates cognitive development (Piaget, 1965), or by lending direct support to the accomplishment of academic tasks (Wentzel, 2009). Peer relationships may also indirectly affect achievement through motivational pathways, insofar as supportive relationships may provide a buffer from stress thereby contributing to emotional well-being (Sarason et al., 1990) or promote positive academic values and beliefs about the self (Bandura, 1986). In turn, these motivational outcomes can contribute to academic success (Wentzel & Miele, 2016).

We examined two questions emerging from this work using meta-analytic techniques: To what extent are findings robust and reflect meaningful relations between social acceptance and academic outcomes? and, What might explain these relations? Toward this end, we examined main effects, the moderating effects of sex, grade level, and country of origin, and the mediating role of motivation (emotional well-being, self-efficacy, values) in linking friendship to academic outcomes.

Database searches were conducted using terms pertaining to sociometric status, social acceptance, popularity, and academic achievement. Results were restricted to studies that were empirical, peer-reviewed, in English, and based on non-clinical samples of K through 12 students. A total of 61 studies published between 1995 and 2017 met the inclusion criteria, yielding 73 independent samples. Comprehensive Meta Analysis (Borenstein, Hedges, Higgins, & Rothstein, 2009) was used to estimate an overall effect size (Hedges’ g) for both fixed- and random-effects models. Moderator analyses were run on sample’s grade level (primary or secondary school), sex, and country region.

Effect sizes across the independent samples ranged from -0.35 to + 1.50. The overall weighted average Hedges’ g estimating the relation between social preference and academic achievement was significantly different from zero for both the fixed-effects (FE) model and the random-effects (RE) model, representing a small to medium positive effect of social preference on academic achievement (Table 1). Moderator analyses revealed a differential effect of social acceptance on academic achievement as a function of students’ grade level, with an effect size almost three times as large for primary school as for secondary school students. Effect sizes also were larger for Asian than for North American and European students. Analyses that examine the role of motivation in mediating the relations between social acceptance and achievement are ongoing.

In sum, our findings lend support to the importance of peer social acceptance for academic outcomes. Results suggest a developmental trend, such that the influence of social acceptance on academic achievement is stronger for elementary-aged children than for those in secondary school. In addition, the relation was stronger for students in Asia, highlighting the importance of cultural context when considering the effects of peer acceptance on academic outcomes. Future work should incorporate additional social and educational factors into models of social acceptance and achievement, such as peers’ valuing of academics or the use of peer-assisted learning techniques.

Authors

• Sophie Jablansky, University of Maryland
  Presenting Author

• Nicole Scalise, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kathryn Wentzel, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author