Examining Peer Selection and Influence Processes on Early Adolescents' Academic Adjustment with Longitudinal Social Network Analysis

The overall objective of this dissertation is to advance understanding of peer relationships and early adolescents' adjustment at school. Peer relationships are a salient part of the classroom context and important for students' adjustment at school. Despite the progress that has been made understanding early adolescents' peer relationships and adjustment at school in recent years (see Rodkin & Ryan, 2012 for a review), there is much we do not know about the peer associations and peer selection and influence processes in regards to academic beliefs and behaviors in the classroom. Further, we do not know how peer selection and influence processes vary by classroom and are associated with teaching practices. This dissertation addresses these questions applying recent developments in Social Network Analysis. Advances and application of Social Network Analysis has provided many insights into social networks and behavior in a variety of settings but has not yet been fully applied to classroom beliefs and behaviors of early adolescent students.;This dissertation aims to advance understanding of peer selection and influence processes on early adolescents' academic motivation, engagement, and achievement using recently developed longitudinal Social Network Analysis. In Study 1, I examine the extent to which friendship selection and influence processes are occurring in regards to early adolescents' academic adjustment. I examine three facets of academic adjustment outcomes: motivation (intrinsic value and academic self-efficacy), engagement (effortful and disruptive behavior) and achievement (report card grades). Study 1 provides the foundation for Study 2. In Study 2, I examine how peer selection and influence processes vary by classrooms and may be associated with different levels of emotional support provided by the teacher. Such connections between the classroom context and peer relationships and how they operate together and influence student adjustment have received scant attention. Such an approach has important implications as it illustrates how classroom contexts can affect peer relationships and students' learning.;The present research expands the use of longitudinal social network analysis techniques to early adolescents' academic adjustment. Using longitudinal social network analyses in both studies, this dissertation aims to provide insights into how friendship networks are organized, how friendship networks impact changes of students' academic beliefs and classroom behaviors, and how classroom contexts are associated with early adolescents' peer network and behavior changes.