Social Experiences with Peers and High School Graduation: A review of theoretical and empirical research

Abstract

This article reviews theoretical and empirical work on the relations between child and adolescent peer experiences and high school graduation. First, the different developmental models that guide research in this domain will be explained. Then, descriptions of peer experiences at the group level (peer acceptance/rejection, victimisation, and crowd affiliation) and at the dyadic level (friendship and clique membership) will be presented, together with their relation to graduation and other indicators of school adjustment. Finally, major theoretical issues and recommendations for future research will be discussed. Specifically, the necessity of including all relevant predictors and control variables in empirical studies and of dealing appropriately with time‐related issues will be highlighted. Methodological challenges associated with these recommendations will be explored.

Acknowledgements

Preparation of this manuscript was made possible by two fellowships awarded to Marie‐Hélène Véronneau, one by the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Société et la Culture, and another by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We would like to thank Michel Claes, Michel Janosz, and Sara Pedersen for their useful comments on previous versions of this manuscript.

Notes

1. See Figure 1 for a simplified form of these two models, especially panel C for the incidental model and panel D for the mediator model. In both panels, “Peer experiences” represent the friends’ characteristics. To illustrate the process of selection, “Factor X” in panel C should be replaced by “student’s personal characteristics”, which predict the association with friends who share these characteristics. To illustrate the process of socialisation, “Factor Y” in panel D should be replaced by “student’s personal characteristics”, which are influenced by friends’ characteristics.