Goza, Franklin, & Ryabov, Igor
Researchers: Franklin GozaIgor Ryabov
University Affiliation: Bowling Green State University
Email: goza@bgsu.edu
Research Question:
Examines how peer networks impact educational achievement and attainment.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Journal Entry: Vol. 38, No. 9, Pp. 1264-1279
Year: 2009
Findings:
- African-American students, at least in terms of grades, are more likely to benefit from membership in heterogeneous peer networks
- For African-American students, school-level effects became insignificant once the peer network measures were introduced
- While integrated peer networks positively affect the GPAs of African-American high school students, they do not appear to affect their chances of graduating from high school.
- Both school-level measures are positive and significant predictors of achievement for Asian-American students. The relationship between school-level race/ethnic heterogeneity and GPA is strong, but not robust, as evidenced by the fact that this measure becomes insignificant when the individual-level peer network factors are added in model.
- However, school-level SES continues to exert a positive and significant influence on the achievement of Asian students
- For Asian students, both the magnitude and significance of school-level SES are diminished once peer network factors are introduced.
- African-Americans are the only group for which the effect of peer-level heterogeneity on achievement is positive and statistically significant.
- For Asians, Latinos, and non-Hispanic whites heterogeneous peer networks reduce the likelihood of high school graduation, while the more heterogeneous the student body at the school attended, the greater the likelihood of their graduation.