Adolescents’ Educational Outcomes: Racial and Ethnic Variations in Peer Network Importance

Abstract

Little attention has been paid to the role of peer social capital in the school context, especially as a predictor of adolescents’ academic outcomes. This study uses a nationally representative (N = 13,738, female = 51%), longitudinal sample and multilevel models to examine how peer networks impact educational achievement and attainment. Results reveal that, in addition to those factors typically associated with academic outcomes (e.g., school composition), two individual-level peer network measures, SES and heterogeneity, had significant effects. Although educational attainment was generally worse in low SES schools, for all ethnic groups higher attainment was associated with attending schools with higher concentrations of minority students. At the individual level, however, membership in integrated peer networks was negatively related to high school graduation for Asians, Latinos, and non-Hispanic whites, and to GPA for Asians and Latinos, as only African-American achievement increased in more racially/ethnically heterogeneous peer networks. Our results suggest that co-ethnic and co-racial peer friendship networks should not be viewed as obstacles to the educational accomplishments of today’s youth. In fact, in many cases the opposite was true, as results generally support the ethnic social capital hypothesis while providing little corroboration for oppositional culture theory. Results also suggest that co-racial and co-ethnic ties may mediate the negative effects of school choice, or more specifically of between-school socioeconomic segregation. Consequently, we conclude that school policies aimed at socioeconomic desegregation are likely to beneficially affect the academic outcomes of all race/ethnic groups.

Cultural influences upon health, affect, self-esteem and impulsiveness: An Indonesian-Swedish comparison

“…Combinations of PA and NA provide opportunities for the identification of cognitive-emotional pre-symptom profiles that underline individuals' pursuit of well-being (Archer, Adolfsson, & Karlsson, 2008;Archer, Adrianson, Plancak, & Karlsson, 2007;Nima, Archer, & Garcia, 2012). Recent analyses have focused upon the issue of ethnicity and affective states (Arango-Lasprilla et al, 2009;Le, Lai, & Wallen, 2009) as well as health status (Goza & Ryabov, 2009;Saalfrank, Wang, & Brown, 2009). It has been found that high levels of impulsive behavior are incompatible with positive affect and self-esteem but rather are associated with negative affect, external locus of control and amotivation (Archer, Kostrzewa, Palomo, & Beninger, 2010;Archer, Oscar-Berman, Blum, & Gold, 2012;Palomo, Beninger, Kostrzewa, & Archer, 2008a, b).…”

The First Stage of Developing the Adolescent Friendship Social Capital Scale

“…A large volume of empirical studies have been carried out to investigate the relationships between adolescents' friendship networks and various cognitive, psychological and behavioural variables, such as academic achievement (e.g., Goza & Ryabov, 2009;Riegle-Crumb & Callahan, 2009), aggressive behaviours (e.g., Rose et al, 2004), substance and drug use (e.g., Kramer & Vaquera, 2011;Pilkington & Sharifullina, 2011), sexual activities (e.g., Udry & Billy, 1987), and schoolto-work transition (e.g., Sletten, 2011). The measurement of the adolescent friendship networks in these studies have been inconsistent, therefore, the scale developed in this study could be a useful tool to assist the investigation in the future.…”

Mixed Parents, Mixed Results

“…Franklin Goza and Igor Ryabov (2009) found that coethnic friendships can be beneficial for one's academic achievement, especially for Asian Americans, suggesting that value of coethnic ties is dependent on the specific ethnic group and the available resources. Franklin Goza and Igor Ryabov (2009) found that coethnic friendships can be beneficial for one's academic achievement, especially for Asian Americans, suggesting that value of coethnic ties is dependent on the specific ethnic group and the available resources.…”

“…Indeed, ethnic intermarriage is often understood as both the outcome and harbinger of social openness (Kalmijn 1998;Qian and Lichter 2007) and may lead to a social network containing more native contacts via preferences, opportunities, and more openness of natives toward mixed than toward immigrant couples. It has been suggested that native-born friends can help diffuse norms of acceptable behavior (Coleman et al 1966), give access to social and economic resources, and offer the cultural resources that provide means of self-presentation and patterns of communication that are valued in the majority context of the school (Goza and Ryabov 2009;Ward, Bochner, and Furnham 2001). their knowledge of the host culture and language) to establish a social network with ethnically cross-cutting ties themselves.…”