The Structure of Peers: The Impact of Peer Networks on Academic Achievement

Berthelon, Matías; Bettinger, Eric; Krüger, Diana; Montecinos‐Pearce, Alejandro

doi:10.1007/s11162-018-09543-7

Cited by 27 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…However, by having senior peers who can advise them, their engagement experience and performance improve. This finding resonates with earlier studies on peer effects; for example, Berthelon et al (2019) found that peer effects are an important contributing factor in the learning process. This means that forming study groups in classes can support the students’ success and persistence.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Analysis of the attrition phenomenon through the lens of university dropouts in the United Arab Emirates

Ashour

2019

JARHE

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Purpose Theoretical models of attrition have failed to address the interwoven factors from the perspective of undergraduate students that influence their decision to drop out. The purpose of this paper is to unravel these complexities using a qualitative phenomenological approach to gain systematic descriptions of the experience of non-completion. Design/methodology/approach Tinto’s (2004) and Bean and Metzner’s (1985) models serve as the theoretical construct for the study’s design and analysis. In-depth interviews were conducted with 41 students who discontinued studies at universities in the United Arab Emirates, to understand the situations that led them to drop out of university and how they experienced this event in their lives. Findings Several issues were identified as contributing factors for dropping out that are consistent with those found in the international literature. Additional issues were more gender or culture specific and, to some extent, represented the differences that signal a social development that is in a transitional stage. The findings revealed that institutional factors, poor pre-college preparation, environmental factors (work-education conflict), early marriage responsibilities, well-paid job opportunities and financial concerns were most influential. Research limitations/implications Despite the limitations of relying on a small sample to generalize findings, the rich detail of this inductive study has added to the understanding of the dropout phenomenon in a new context. Practical implications The paper recommends both remedial and early intervention strategies to be undertaken by the Ministry of Education and universities. Remedial strategies include re-examining the desired standard of English as a condition for admission and adjusting the grading system. Early intervention measures that accommodate the needs of at-risk students are also proposed. At local, regional and international levels, higher education should be freed from commodification and inflated fees. Originality/value The paper presents a significant departure from the largely North American and European literature on the university dropout, by offering a broader knowledge of this phenomenon in another regional and national context.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Analysis of the attrition phenomenon through the lens of university dropouts in the United Arab Emirates

Ashour

2019

JARHE

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“…A vast body of the literature has confirmed the importance and influence of social relationships at the university on the satisfaction, persistence and especially academic performance of undergraduate students (Berthelon et al, 2019 ; Gašević et al, 2013 ; Smith & Peterson, 2007 ; Tomás-Miquel et al, 2016 ). Overwhelmed by many fears, insecurities, projects and exams, bonds with other students can serve as a support for coping and overcoming them.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With regard to academic linkages, despite their relevance and influence on students’ academic performance (Berthelon et al, 2019 ; Smith & Peterson, 2007 ), they have not been a major research area in comparison with other types of linkages of a more friendship nature. The reasons for this are not obvious; however, we have found great interest in recent years for the study of the influence of friendly relationships among adolescents on problems such as delinquency, bullying, depression, anxiety, alcohol consumption, smoking or obesity and on socio-cognitive aspects such as personality or morality (Rambaran et al, 2017 ), which may have ultimately detracted from other research areas such as academic relationships.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond cultural and geographical proximity: delving into the factors that influence the dynamics of academic relationships between students in higher education

Tomás‐Miquel

Vicedo

2021

High Educ

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Scholars have widely recognised the importance of academic relationships between students at the university. While much of the past research has focused on studying their influence on different aspects such as the students’ academic performance or their emotional stability, less is known about their dynamics and the factors that influence the formation and dissolution of linkages between university students in academic networks. In this paper, we try to shed light on this issue by exploring through stochastic actor-oriented models and student-level data the influence that a set of proximity factors may have on formation of these relationships over the entire period in which students are enrolled at the university. Our findings confirm that the establishment of academic relationships is derived, in part, from a wide range of proximity dimensions of a social, personal, geographical, cultural and academic nature. Furthermore, and unlike previous studies, this research also empirically confirms that the specific stage in which the student is at the university determines the influence of these proximity factors on the dynamics of academic relationships. In this regard, beyond cultural and geographic proximities that only influence the first years at the university, students shape their relationships as they progress in their studies from similarities in more strategic aspects such as academic and personal closeness. These results may have significant implications for both academic research and university policies.

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“…Recent work in economics, educational psychology, and higher education have expanded and refined the list of student-based inputs affecting educational attainment and academic success to include the importance of personality characteristics (Schmitt et al 2009 ; Heckman and Kautz 2012 ; Richardson et al 2012 ; Kautz et al 2014 ; Caviglia-Harris and Maier 2020 ; Sweet et al 2019 ; and Martínez et al 2019 ), peers (Berthelon et al 2019 ; Pu et al 2020 ) and student health (Larson et al 2016 ; and Wallis et al 2019 ). Each of these categories of determinants represent a wide literature covering specific cases from practical intelligence (Schmitt et al 2009 ), grit (Fosnacht et al 2019 ), substance abuse (Wallis et al 2019 ), and stress from financial or family difficulties (Larson et al 2016 ).…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Semester Course Load and Student Performance

Huntington-Klein

Gill

2020

Res High Educ

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Many college students in the United States take longer than four years to complete their bachelor's degrees. Long time-to-degree can increase higher education costs by billions. Time-to-degree can be reduced if students take more credits each term. While academic momentum theory suggests that additional credits may also improve student performance, and there is a strong positive correlation between course load and student performance, high course load may reduce time investment in each course, giving high course load a negative causal effect on performance. Concern about the negative impact of course load on performance, especially for struggling students, may lead to pushback against policies to reduce time-to-degree by increasing course load. Using longitudinal data from a regional four-year university with a high average time-to-degree, we find no evidence that high course loads have a negative impact on student grades, even for students at the low end of the performance distribution. This result is consistent with a model where students substitute time away from non-education activities when their course loads increase.

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The Structure of Peers: The Impact of Peer Networks on Academic Achievement

Cited by 27 publications

References 39 publications

Analysis of the attrition phenomenon through the lens of university dropouts in the United Arab Emirates

Analysis of the attrition phenomenon through the lens of university dropouts in the United Arab Emirates

Beyond cultural and geographical proximity: delving into the factors that influence the dynamics of academic relationships between students in higher education

Semester Course Load and Student Performance

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