Cross-class friendship and academic achievement in middle school.

Abstract

Academic achievement disparities based on parental education are robust during the middle school years. The current study examined whether cross-class friendship (i.e., reciprocal relationships between peers with different levels of parental education) decrease class-based achievement differences during a developmental phase when friends are particularly important. Relying on a sample of 4,288 sixth grade students (M ϭ 12.03 years) from 26 ethnically diverse middle schools, multilevel analyses were conducted predicting seventhgrade grade point average, standardized achievement test scores, and teacher-rated academic engagement. The associations between parental education and academic achievement were reduced when students had at least 1 cross-class friendship at sixth grade. The findings are discussed in terms of how socioeconomic diversity of school-based friendships can level the academic playing field.

It’s All in the Family: Parents’ Economic Worries and Youth’s Perceptions of Financial Stress and Educational Outcomes

“…In turn, youth may themselves worry more upon learning of their families struggle to procure basic needs as compared with desirable but non-essential purchases (e.g., new clothes) or activities; with the former having more consequences on academic achievement and engagement at school than the latter. In contrast to perceived needs, perceived wants and SSS are also more likely influenced by sources outside of the family, including observations of peers’ belongings and activities (e.g., Lessard and Juvonen 2019 ; Mistry et al 2015 ) and media influences (e.g., Rideout and Robb 2019 ). In short, although more variable than expected, the observed links between parent and youth perceptions of family financial well-being highlight that youth are sensitive to, and aware of, their family’s economic circumstances and their parents’ reactions to those circumstances.…”

“…Relative to late childhood, early adolescence is a period when youth engage in active exploration and examination of their social identities, including SSS (Crocetti 2017;Destin et al 2017). This coincides with an expansion of opportunities for youth to compare their family's economic standing to that of their peers as a function of the transition into larger and (sometimes) more socioeconomically diverse school settings (Anderman and Mueller 2010;Lessard and Juvonen 2019), and increasingly greater interaction with social media, including exposure to influencers (Rideout and Robb 2019). While these shifting and expanding social experiences provide opportunities for more complex social perspective taking for adolescents, they also provide opportunities for feeling hierarchy (Destin et al 2012)-for engaging in social comparisons with peers, friends, and with cultural and societal driven notions of higher (versus lower) levels of social status-that may have implications for youth wellbeing.…”

Promoting Social Inclusion in Educational Settings: Challenges and Opportunities

“…Friendships bridging gender (Robnett & Leaper, 2013) and social class (Lessard & Juvonen, 2019b) are also associated with higher academic outcomes. Such findings imply that cross-group friendships can function as social capital.…”

“…Insofar as achievement disparities across socioeconomic status are accounted for by access to differential resources, difference-bridging friendships can help level the academic playing field. For example, when middle school students have even just one cross-class friend, achievement disparities based on parental level of education are significantly reduced (Lessard & Juvonen, 2019b). Functioning as an academic "equalizer," cross-class friendships appear to increase students' access to practical academic knowledge they may not get at home, such as insights on how to study effectively, and provide new enrichment opportunities as well as support for meeting academic challenges.…”

Promoting Social Inclusion in Educational Settings: Challenges and Opportunities

“…Friendships bridging gender (Robnett & Leaper, 2013) and social class (Lessard & Juvonen, 2019b) are also associated with higher academic outcomes. Such findings imply that SOCIAL INCLUSION IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS 31 cross-group friendships can function as social capital.…”