Citation

Lessard LM, Juvonen J. J. Sch. Psychol. 2018; 69: 143-153.

Affiliation

University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Franz Hall, 502 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Society for the Study of School Psychology, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsp.2018.05.003

PMID

30558749

Abstract

Extending past research on the academic benefits of having close friends in early adolescence, the study examines how instability of friendships (i.e., losses and gains of friends) is related to academic engagement and performance in middle school. The sample was drawn from a longitudinal study of ethnically diverse youth across 26 middle schools (N = 5991). The results demonstrated that over two thirds of friends were either lost or gained during the first year in middle school. When controlling for friendship network size, both friendship losses and gains were concurrently associated with lower academic engagement and performance at spring of sixth grade. Moreover, higher overall instability during the first year in middle school was related to lower academic engagement in seventh grade, which in turn, predicted lower grade point average (GPA) by the end of middle school. The findings suggest that friendship instability captures a disruptive social process that can compromise academic functioning in middle school.

Copyright © 2018 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Academic engagement; Academic performance; Friendship; Middle school