Injunctive and Descriptive Peer Group Norms and the Academic Adjustment of Rural Early Adolescents

Abstract

This study integrates diverse literatures on peer group influence by conceptualizing and examining the relationship of peer group injunctive norms to the academic adjustment of a large and ethnically diverse sample of rural early adolescents' academic adjustment. Results of three-level hierarchical linear modeling indicated that peer groups were differentiated by injunctive norms for effort and achievement. After accounting for prior adjustment, peer group injunctive norms predicted changes to students' school valuation and effort. Peer group injunctive and descriptive norms were moderately correlated; injunctive norms that were more discrepant from descriptive norms were associated with academic adjustment beyond the associations for descriptive norms. Peer group normative relationships did not differ by gender, ethnic minority status, or school configuration. Implications for understanding peer influence and for educational practice are discussed.

Social Integration and Students’ Perceptions of the Transition to Middle School

“…Ryan (2001) also found no differences by ethnicity in relationships among students' motivation and achievement and their peer group affiliations. Other researchers have also reported a lack of difference between ethnic minority and White students in the relationship between structural and normative features of peer groups and their subsequent adjustment (Hamm, Schmid et al, 2011;Wilson et al, 2011). Given the potential for, and limited attention to group differences by gender and ethnicity, we examined differences in the relationship of these aspects of social integration to students' perceptions of their transition experience by both students' gender and ethnic minority status.…”

“…Research on peer relationships at the transition suggests that girls showed greater instability in their peer affiliations as compared to boys (Hardy et al, 2002), but boys and girls have not been found to differ in peer acceptance at the middle school transition (Hardy et al, 2002;Kingery et al, 2011). Gender differences have not been found in the structural and normative features of boys' and girls' peer groups following the transition to middle school (Ellis & Zarbatany, 2007;Hamm, Schmid et al, 2011;Wilson et al, 2011).…”

“…Injunctive norms reflect peer group members' perceptions of the accepted and expected behaviors and values endorsed by the peer group (Hamm, Schmid, Farmer, & Locke, 2011). Hamm, Schmid and colleagues (2011) found that sixth-graders in peer groups with injunctive norms that endorsed academic effort and achievement early in the school year experienced more favorable academic adjustment and increased school valuing at the end of the school year.…”

“…Social-cognitive mapping procedures were followed, as reported in Hamm, Schmid, et al (2011). Validity of this measure has been established in past observational studies reporting that students are four times more likely to interact with members of their groups than those who were not members of their peer group (Cairns, Perrin, & Cairns, 1985).…”

“…Students completed an 11-item scale that assessed their perception of the acceptability of effort and achievement among their peers (α = .84) (Hamm, Schmid et al, 2011). Each item began with the prompt, "The kids I hang around with at school think it is good to…"; sample items included "volunteer to answer questions or work problems on the board" and "really like learning."…”