The primary focus of the current study was to examine the relations between childrens peer relationships and academic performance. This study involved a secondary analysis of data provided by children, parents, and teachers. In all, 585 families participated in the study. The sample is predominately middle class, generally representative of the geographical regions, and demographically diverse; 52% of the children were male, 19% were of a minority or ethnic background, and 26% lived with single parents. The current study analyzed data collected over a four year period beginning when the children were enrolled in kindergarten. Data were obtained using classroom-based sociometric interviews and teacher questionnaires. Three hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis stated that there are concurrent associations between peer relationship experiences and academic performance. The second hypothesis stated that associations between peer relationships and academic performance also will be found when averaging across kindergarten through third grade. Analyses computed in this study indicate that better academic performance was associated with greater peer acceptance, more friends, and less rejection by peers in each grade and when averaging over the four-year period. The third hypothesis stated that there are positive associations between yearly changes in peer relationships and academic performance and a research question asked if the associations described in the hypotheses generalized to boys and girls.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-07142005-163536 |
| Date | 27 July 2005 |
| Creators | Zitzmann, Natalie Ann |
| Contributors | Cynthia DiCarlo, Betsy Garrison, Robert Laird |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07142005-163536/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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