Why Do Friends Have Similar Educational Expectations? Separating Influence and Selection Effects

Abstract

The influence of friends in shaping students’ educational expectations has received considerable theoretical and empirical attention in past research. However, few studies have directly tackled the methodological problems associated with estimating such influence effects. In particular, the separation of selection effects—with students selecting friends with similar educational expectations—from influence effects has remained elusive. In this study, we therefore investigate whether friend influence persists once we account for selection effects and other confounding network-related processes. In addition, we quantify the contribution of selection and influence to the similarity of educational expectations among friends. We rely on two-wave longitudinal data on 1,821 German secondary school students in 77 classrooms and multilevel random-coefficients stochastic actor-oriented models for the coevolution of networks and behaviour. Our results demonstrate that both selection and influence contribute to expectation-based similarity and that selection effects are substantial. This shows that without explicitly accounting for selection, estimates of friend influence effects are likely to be biased.

Skills and adult educational choice: Gender (in)equality in a new form of Swedish vocational education

“…The first explanation, of social influence, refers to direct interaction with parents, peers, teachers, and other community members who define the set of reasonable expectations for an individual (Charles and Bradley 2009;Kretschmer and Roth 2021). Men and women receive different messages from their surroundings about what is reasonable, possible, and desirable (Correll 2001).…”

Understanding the stickiness in high-SES students’ educational expectations: The role of private schools

“…As parents’ expectations about their children condition their children’s expectations (Wu and Bai, 2015), that will translate into high-SES students holding high expectations in situations of low performance. Therefore, the student body of private schools will be formed by individuals highly resistant to low performance who will reinforce each other in their ambitious plans (Kretschmer and Roth, 2021; Lorenz et al, 2020).…”

“…Sociologists have devoted great endeavours to the study of educational expectations. On the one hand, expectations are highly influenced by parents, peers, and teachers (Kretschmer and Roth, 2021; Wu and Bai, 2015), making social origin an essential predictor of students’ educational plans (Jerrim, 2014; Parker et al, 2016). On the other hand, expectations are associated with later educational and occupational attainment (Brumley et al, 2019; Jacob and Wilder, 2011; Lee et al, 2012), so they play a key mediating role in the status attainment process and the reproduction of the social structure (Sewell et al, 1969, 1970).…”

Social networks, cultural capital, and educational inequality: Investigating network mechanisms and differences in academic achievement

“…Importantly, students select their friends and influence each other not only with regard to school grades (Flashman, 2012;Gremmen et al, 2017;Kretschmer et al, 2018;Kretschmer & Roth, 2020;Lorenz et al, 2020;Raabe et al, 2019;Rambaran et al, 2017;Stark et al, 2017), but research also shows that cultural dispositions and tastes shape individual's network composition (Edelmann & Vaisey, 2014;Lewis et al, 2012;Lewis & Kaufman, 2018;Lizardo, 2006;Vaisey & Lizardo, 2010).…”