The Influence of Friends on Achievement and Affective Outcomes

Abstract

This chapter discusses the influence of friends on achievement and affective outcomes. The structure of a student's friendship group is identified on the basis of the student's scores on initial Time 1 measures. Four friendship group structures are identified: LL (low student, low friends); LH (low student, high friends); HL (high student, low friends); and HH (high student, high friends). The first letter of the category tells whether the student's own score on a measure at Time 1 is above or below the mean score, and the second letter tells whether the average of the student's friends' scores on the same measure at Time 1 is above or below the mean. Students who are initially low or high with high-scoring friends have, with two exceptions, significantly higher scores one year later than similar students with low-scoring friends. The within-sex comparisons suggest that the influence process works similarly for males and females, with both sexes positively influenced by high-scoring friends on a variety of achievement and affective outcomes. The results suggest that an emphasis on participation in classroom decisions affects student satisfaction, self-reliance, social status, and perceived rewards for self-reliance of initially low self-reliant students if they have initially high self-reliant friends.