Connecting engagement to classroom friendships and popular peers' prosocial behaviour

Abstract

Background: There are many ways to leverage support from friendships, and it is important for how students engage with learning in the classroom. Further, friendships are embedded within the larger classroom peer group, which might have different norms for prosocial or disruptive behaviour. Few studies have examined how friends support or deter engagement within the context of competing influences from classmates and popular peers. Aims: This study investigated how early adolescents' classroom friendships were related to their engagement (behaviour, emotion and peer help-seeking). Moreover, whether these associations depended on classmates' and popular peers' behavioural norms. Sample: Participants were 824 fifth and sixth graders (52% girls, 48% boys, 43% White, 30% Black, 6% Hispanic, 6% Asian and 16% multiracial or other) from 46 classrooms in the United States. Methods: We used multilevel modelling to examine the associations between students' friendship experiences (best friend quality, reciprocated friendships, social network centrality and prestige), peer group norms (prosocial and disruptive) and students' engagement. Results: Results showed that the quantity of reciprocated friendships was unrelated to all three types of engagement. However, engagement was positively associated with best friendship quality and with friendship centrality (i.e., being well-connected to many friends). Students' prestige, or being highly desired as a friend, did not diminish behavioural engagement when popularity norms favoured prosocial behaviour. Conclusions: Findings suggest not all aspects of friendship experiences are equal. For engagement, it is important for students to feel like they have friends in class and to draw attention to the prosocial behaviour of popular peers.