title: Adolescent academic outcomes in school context: network effects reexamined.
abstract: This study examines the role of racial/ethnic segregation and peer effects in shaping educational achievement and attainment, using multi-level modeling on a nationally representative sample of adolescents. As in many prior studies, school socioeconomic composition was a significant predictor of achievement and attainment for students of all racial/ethnic groups. Educational attainment was negatively affected by the concentration of low-income students. However, for some racial/ethnic groups educational attainment increased with higher concentrations of minority students. Furthermore, peer social capital, measured as the average achievement of a peer network, was a significant predictor of both educational achievement and attainment for all racial/ethnic groups. In addition, and counter to some earlier studies, results revealed that segregated peer networks among African-Americans may lead to better academic achievement and attainment than school settings with more integrated friendship networks.
authors.affiliation: SBSC 342A, The University of Texas-Pan American, 1201 W. University Drive, Edinburg, TX 78539-2999, USA. ryabovi@utpa.edu
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ryabov
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D012574:Schools; D012923:Social Class; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult