| William Mangino
Yale University
Adolescent peer networks as social capital: The academic implications of openness
Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and a network-analytic, prospective multiple regression design, my dissertation will attempt to show that adolescent students who have open friendship networks will have higher grades, work harder at school, and be less prone to delinquency. Open friendship networks will be especially beneficial to "at-risk" students because it will free them from anti-academic peer pressure associated with at-risk status. At-risk and low-risk students alike will also have improved information flows and a more opportune institutional environment. Further, by reducing peer pressure, open peer networks will empower parents and schools to have greater influence over children compared to adolescents with closed friendship networks. These findings will have implications for educational policy as it relates to the institutional grouping of students, as in academic tracking, extracurricular participation, and assignment of class schedules. If my hypotheses are supported, schools should pay greater attention to their direct power over social structure.
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