The impact of peer relations on academic progress in junior high

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine whether peer relations within classrooms were related to students' academic progress, and if so, whether this can be explained by students' relatedness and engagement, in line with Connell and Wellborn's self-system model. We analyzed data of 18,735 students in 796 school classes in Dutch junior high schools, using multilevel analysis. Academic progress, conceptualized as regular promotion to the next year versus grade retention, moving upward, and moving downward in the track system, was measured at the time of transition between Grades 1 and 2 (equivalent to US Grades 7 and 8). The results indicated that students who were accepted by their peers had lower probabilities to retain a grade or to move downward in the track system. Although peer acceptance was associated with relatedness and engagement, these variables did not explain why peer acceptance was associated to academic progress. Furthermore, peer acceptance and relatedness were more strongly related in classes with more negative class climates.

Introduction

Research has established a significant link between children's relations with peers and their academic performance. Students who are poorly accepted by their classmates tend to have lower grades (Guldemond, 1994, Ollendick et al., 1992, Wentzel, 2003, Wentzel and Caldwell, 1997, Wigfield et al., 1998, Zettergren, 2003), lower scores on achievement tests (Buhs et al., 2006, Diehl et al., 1998, Ladd et al., 1997, Vandell and Hembree, 1994, Zettergren, 2003), lower graduation rates (Risi, Gerhardstein, & Kistner, 2003) and a higher risk of dropping out (Hymel et al., 1996, Jimerson et al., 2000, Parker and Asher, 1987). Having friends at school appears to support involvement and engagement in school-related activities (Berndt et al., 1990, Ladd, 1990, Vandell and Hembree, 1994, Wentzel and Caldwell, 1997) and school performance (Diehl et al., 1998, Ladd et al., 1997). Although these links have been found from childhood (e.g., Ladd, 1990) through college (e.g., Tinto, 1987), it has been suggested that relatedness to peers is particularly important and hence potentially problematic during early adolescence (Goodenow, 1993).

This article investigates whether students' relations with peers in the classroom affects their probabilities of grade retention, moving downward, and moving upward in the track system in Dutch junior high schools. From the large number of studies reporting linkages between peer relations and various educational outcomes, we would expect that there is indeed a relation. However, methodological flaws in some of the cited studies limit their significance. Furthermore, it is important to corroborate this relation for this crucial outcome variable in the Dutch educational system. Moreover, the underlying processes that might explain the link between peer relations and academic outcomes are not well understood. An explanatory pathway that is frequently cited is the self-system model of Connell and Wellborn (1991), but articles about the mediating linkages proposed by these authors either did not test them empirically (i.e., the effect of peer relations on an educational outcome was studied, with a theoretical reference to Connell and Wellborn) or only partially tested. In our paper, we tested whether the association between peer relations and academic progress is mediated by students' relatedness and, subsequently, engagement, as is in line with Connell and Wellborn's model. The following section describes this model. Thereafter, we discussed methodological issues that may limit the significance of some of the studies cited above. Then, after specifying the research questions, we described the method, the analyses, and the results.