Social Participation of German Students with and without a Migration Background

Abstract

Social participation is an important factor for students’ socio-emotional/academic development. The literature on the topic discusses four domains in this regard: friendships, interactions, social acceptance, and self-perception of social inclusion. It shows that marginalized groups (e.g., students with behavioral problems/learning deficiencies/physical disabilities) are experience difficulties in those domains. Little, however, is known about the effect of a migration background (one of the most commonly marginalized groups) in this context. Therefore, self-ratings and peer ratings of 818 fourth graders (148 with a migration background, defined by their first learned language not being German) were assessed. The results of the ANOVA indicate that students with a migration background show a decreased level of friendships, interactions, and social acceptance. Gender effects on self-perceived social inclusion were also found. This suggests that social participation is a rather complex concept, which is also impaired for marginalized groups due to social factors like a migration background.

Social Participation of Students With a Migration Background—A Comparative Analysis of the Beginning and End of a School Year in German Primary Schools

“…An effect is not identifiable here for the most dimensions. However, if one takes into account the fact that students with a migration background seem to start off with a lower social participation (e.g., Madsen et al, 2016a;Krull et al, 2018;Zander et al, 2019;Hamel et al, 2022), findings suggest the need for intervention. A given level of student social participation, once established, seems not to change or only to undergo limited change over time.…”

“…Friendships are usually recorded in the literature using student nominations (Schwab, 2015;Hamel et al, 2022): students are generally asked to give their three (Mamas, 2012) to five (Pijl et al, 2011) best friends. Reciprocal friendships appear particularly important here, for, as Vaquera and Kao (2008) outline, this type of friendship seems to provide particular emotional support.…”

Peer acceptance and peer status in relation to students’ special educational needs, migration biography, gender and socio‐economic status

“…However, especially for the investigation of the social dimension of inclusion, a broader view with which to examine this topic is required. Aside from SEN (e.g., Avramidis, Avgeri, and Strogilos, 2018; Schwab, 2015b, 2016), gender differences (e.g., Ato, Galián, and Fernández‐Vilar, 2014) or a migrant biography (Graham, Taylor, and Ho, 2009; Hamel, Schwab, and Wahl, 2021, 2022; Krull, Wilbert, and Hennemann, 2018) have been proposed as crucial factors that have a negative impact on students’ social participation.…”

Adolescents’ Characteristics and Peer Relationships in Class: A Population Study

“…The time spent in the country of immigration also seems relevant for the inclusion process [ 98 ]. From an acculturation perspective [ 95 ], it is to be expected that second-generation immigrants would be less socially excluded than those of the first generation, as they have spent more time in the host country, and have therefore had more opportunities to establish close relationships with their peers.…”