Stability of Peer Acceptance and Rejection and Their Effect on Academic Performance in Primary Education: A Longitudinal Research

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to analyze the evolution of peer relationships and academic performance and the effect of the former on the latter in primary education, differentiating between positive and negative relationships. To this end, the likes and dislikes received by each student from his/her classmates were measured at four time points between first and sixth grades, as well as the marks given by their teachers in the subjects of mathematics and Spanish language. One-hundred-sixty-nine students (52.7% girls) from 10 classes of five public schools participated in this study. To verify the objectives, we used a complex structural equation model, obtained from a combination of two autoregressive models (AR, one for social preferences and another one for academic performance), two multi-trait multi-method models (MTMM, one for acceptances and rejections and another one for academic performance in mathematics and Spanish language), and an effects model of social preferences on academic performance. This study confirms: (a) The stability of both peer relationships and academic performance throughout childhood; (b) the stable influence of social relationships on academic performance; and (c) the importance of considering acceptance and rejection differentially. This work reveals the failure of the school to address initial disadvantages, and it provides guidelines for early and inclusive interventions.

Peer acceptance and rejection during secondary school: Do associations with subsequent educational outcomes vary by socioeconomic background?

“…Students were asked to state the name of their mother's and father's job, and to briefly describe what they do in their job. These responses were coded to the ISEI-08 (International Socio-Economic Index of occupational status) with values ranging from 11 to 89 (Ganzeboom, 2010). The average of parents' ISEI score was then calculated.…”

Academic achievement is more closely associated with student-peer relationships than with student-parent relationships or student-teacher relationships

“…The sum of the three Z scores was used as an index of each student’s academic achievement. In contrast, García Bacete et al (2021) used student marks in mathematics and Spanish at the end-of-year exams for 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades, applying a 5-point scale (fail, pass, good, very good, and excellent).…”

Friendships, Rejection, and Standardized Test Scores Over Time

“…Acquiring skills to navigate peer relationships and to achieve academically in school are the cornerstones of the developmental tasks of early and middle childhood (Legkauskas & Magelinskait_ e-Legkauskien_ e, 2019). The association between these two tasks have been investigated since at least the 1980s (e.g., Hartup, 1989) and has been consistently linked to each other in early and middle childhood (Garcı´a Bacete et al, 2021). However, there are multiple ways of measuring peer relationships (Guo et al, 2018;Ladd et al, 1997), as well as academic achievement (e.g.…”

“…The majority of data supporting the association of peer relationships and achievement emerges from studies of classroom social acceptance and rejection (Garcı´a Bacete et al, 2021). Acceptance reflects how well a group likes someone.…”

“…However, there are multiple ways of measuring peer relationships (Guo et al, 2018; Ladd et al, 1997), as well as academic achievement (e.g. grades vs. standardized tests; García Bacete et al, 2021). The definition of which type of peer relationship is assessed and which measure of achievement is examined has a substantial impact on the strength and persistence of the association between peer relationships and school achievement (Beazidou & Botsoglou, 2016; Kingery et al, 2011; Oberle & Schonert-Reichl, 2013).…”