This study concerns peer selection and influence dynamics in early adolescents' friendships regarding academic achievement. Using longitudinal social network analysis (RSiena), both selection and influence processes were investigated for students' average grades and their cluster-specific grades (i.e., language, exact, and social cluster). Data were derived from the SNARE (Social Network Analysis of Risk behavior in Early adolescence) study, using 6 waves (N = 601; Mage = 12.66, 48.9% boys at first wave). Results showed developmental differences between the first and second year of secondary school (seventh and eighth grade). Whereas selection processes were found in the first year on students' cluster-specific grades, influence processes were found in the second year, on both students' average and cluster-specific grades. These results suggest that students initially tend to select friends on the basis of similar cluster-based grades (first year), showing that similarity in achievement is attractive for friendships. Especially for low-achieving students, similar-achieving students were highly attractive as friends, whereas they were mostly avoided by high-achieving students. Influence processes on academic achievement take place later on (second year), when students know each other better, indicating that students' grades become more similar over time in response to their connectedness. Concluding, this study shows the importance of developmental differences and specific school subjects for understanding peer selection and influence processes in adolescents' academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record

As a part of classroom management, teachers face the question of how and where to seat their students. However, it is far from clear what considerations teachers have when making seating arrangements. Therefore, in this study seating arrangement considerations from 50 teachers in grades 4-6 of elementary school were assessed. In Phase 1, teachers were interviewed about their goals and considerations for classroom seating arrangements. Teachers mentioned between 2 and 19 reasons for placing students at specific places in the classroom, with mostly academic considerations. They mainly preferred arrangements in small groups to promote student cooperation. In Phase 2, teachers completed a questionnaire about seating arrangements. This allowed us to examine individual differences between teachers related to gender, years of experience, and beliefs, and the concurrence between the interview and questionnaire data. Teachers reported multiple and various considerations for seating arrangements. Correlations with their general student-oriented or subject-oriented beliefs and personal characteristics were low. The concurrence between measurement methods also was low. The discussion focused on teacher awareness of classroom seating arrangements as an important part of classroom management and a tool for prevention and intervention.

This study examined to what extent adolescents' and their friends' risk behaviors (i.e., delinquency and alcohol use) hinder or promote their academic achievement (grade point average [GPA]), and vice versa. Longitudinal data were used (N = 1,219 seventh- to ninth-grade adolescents; M = 13.69). Results showed that risk behaviors negatively affected adolescents' GPA, whereas GPA protected against engaging in risk behaviors. Moreover, adolescents tended to select friends who have similar behaviors and friends' behaviors became more similar over time (same-behavior selection and influence). Furthermore, although same-behavior effects seemed to dominate, evidence was found for some cross-behavior selection effects and a tendency in seventh grade for cross-behavior influence effects. Concluding, it is important to investigate the interplay between different behaviors with longitudinal social network analysis.

The importance of near-seated peers for elementary students' academic engagement and achievement.