“Let's hang out!”: Understanding social ties among linguistically diverse youth in urban afterschool programs

Abstract

This study examines the associations among cross-linguistic social ties, individual-level social network and demographic characteristics, and academic and social-emotional outcomes in a sample of third to eighth grade Latine and Black youth attending urban afterschool programs. Guided by social capital and social learning perspectives, this study is one of the first to explore the associations of social ties among Spanish-speaking bilingual youth and native Englishspeakers in the afterschool setting. We found that youth who have more ties in the classroom social network have more cross-linguistic connections than would be expected given the afterschool classroom composition. Moreover, having more cross-linguistic ties at the start of the year was associated with higher academic and social self-concept in the spring, adjusting for baseline skills and other covariates. These findings suggest that cross-linguistic ties in the afterschool setting may contribute to positive social and developmental outcomes in late childhood and early adolescence.

Social development quartet: Benefits of intergroup connections: Examining associations between peer networks and academic and socio‐emotional competencies of diverse youth

“…Future research could consider multiplex social network analyses that allow for the simultaneous exploration of the role of multiple types of relationships in youth academic and social outcomes (e.g., Snijders et al., 2013; Vörös & Snijders, 2017). Third, these articles explored the benefits of intergroup connections in multiple settings including schools (McDermott et al., this issue), classrooms (Elreda et al., this issue), and after school programs (Hwang et al., this issue). Future research could compare the benefits of intergroup connections across multiple types of settings that are important to youth including school settings (e.g., classrooms, schools) and settings beyond school (e.g., neighborhoods, clubs).…”

“…Hwang et al. (this issue) examined the affiliation relationships (i.e., hanging out ties) among Spanish‐speaking bilingual and native English speaking elementary and middle school students (ages 7 – 14) participating in five afterschool programs. Specifically, using social network measures derived using cognitive social structures (Krackhardt, 1987; Neal, 2008), these authors longitudinally examined the role of individual level network characteristics in predicting academic and social outcomes.…”

“…Youth are more likely to have relationships with peers of the same race, ethnicity, language, or socioeconomic status (e.g., Campigotto et al., 2021; Cappella et al., 2017; Hwang et al., this issue, Kornienko & Rivas‐Drake, this issue; McDermott et al., this issue; Neal, 2010; Shrum et al., 1988). This phenomenon, known as homophily (McPherson et al., 2001), can occur because the demographic composition of schools, classrooms, extracurricular activities, or neighborhoods tend to limit opportunities to form intergroup connections (e.g., opportunity structures ; Joyner & Kao, 2000; Moody, 2001; Nishina et al., 2019) or because youth actively seek out relationships with similar peers (e.g., peer selection ; McPherson et al., 2001).…”

Adolescent intergroup connections and their developmental benefits: Exploring contributions from social network analysis

“…"), and informational supports ("Who knows how to navigate X?"). Research has begun to examine such mechanisms and showed that studying together with peers of different linguistic status has been prospectively associated with better academic outcomes (Hwang et al, 2021).…”

“…To examine the hypothesized relational mechanisms through which intergroup connections promote adolescent development, scholars could use specific peer nomination prompts to measure academic relationships (“Who do you study with?”) as well as emotional supports (“Who makes you feel supported and cared for?”), instrumental supports (“Who do you go for help/advice?”), and informational supports (“Who knows how to navigate X?”). Research has begun to examine such mechanisms and showed that studying together with peers of different linguistic status has been prospectively associated with better academic outcomes (Hwang et al., 2021).…”