Summary Titkova V.V. (Сетевой анализ факторов социального признания и исключения в среде подростков), страница 3

Network analysis was applied to compute individual characteristics(sociometricpopularity,perceivedpopularity,socialexclusion).Thesecharacteristics were used as dependent variables in logistic and negative binomialregressions, as well as in multilevel modeling.2. Special techniques of network analysis have been applied to model the linksbetween the actors of the network. To analyze cross-sectional network data thecurrent study applied two techniques: p2 models and exponential random graphmodels. Longitude network data was analyzed using stochastic actor-based models.7.

The main results of the studyThe findings of this study demonstrate how popularity and social exclusion areconnected to behaviours, attitudes and characteristics of students both on individualand group level. The current research makes a distinction between two types ofpopularity: sociometric and perceived. Sociometric popularity and social exclusionare positions that an individual has in the structure of friendships and negativerelationships. Perceived popularity reflects how famous the student is among theirpeers. Sociometric popularity reflects the student’s involvement into friendships.Sociometric popularity, social exclusion and perceived popularity reflect varioussocial relations and behaviours of adolescents.The current study analyzed how the social status of an adolescent is connectedwith their academic performance, educational attitudes and risky behaviours, suchas smoking and drinking.

The focus was on examining the connection between thesocial status with belonging to an ethnic minority as well as the connection of thesocial status with various roles in the situation of bullying. The results of analysisare presented below.The relations between social status and academic performance are genderspecific (the connection is stronger for girls rather than boys) and are determined bythe group context.11For girls academic achievement has a positive connection with their socialstatus regardless of the level of educational motivation in the group.

Even in theclasses, where most pupils are not motivated to demonstrate academic performance,getting high marks helps girls to gain sociometric popularity. For boys theconnection between status and academic performance is determined by their groupcontext. In classes with high or average level of academic motivation the relationshipbetween sociometric popularity and academic success is positive (but the connectionis weaker than in the case with girls). In classes with low level of educationalmotivation the higher the boys’ marks are compared to the class average, the lowertheir sociometric popularity is.

This means that in such peer groups, boys’ academicaspirations become a risk and are connected with loss of friendships.The effect of group context for the relationship between social status andacademic success is present on the class level rather than school level. Moreover, itis only relevant in certain cases: such classes comprised only 7% of the sample. In93% of classes academic achievement is significant for high social status of bothgirls and boys.

These results contradict a number of studies conducted in a numberof schools in America and Western Europe, that have concluded that academicsuccess is seen as “not masculine”, and high marks, as well as demonstrating interestin studies damages boys’ social status within the group and makes them eventuallyhide their aspiration to get good marks or balance their success with rebelliousbehaviour [Adler et al., 1992; Cillessen, Rose, 2005; Warrington et al., 2000]. Incase with this study, the marginalization of straight-A male students had only beenfound in a small number of classes. In this case to achieve a higher status adolescentstake different factors into account, be it sports achievements that were recognizedby J.S.

Coleman in the 60s, or aggressive behaviour and dominance.The results of the current study demonstrate that in the school environmentfriendships are formed according to similarity (homophily) in academicachievement.Academic achievement is a very important predictor when it comes to12friendships. It is quite unlikely for a straight-A student to be friends with someonewho mostly gets D’s.

It is important to understand that vocational schools havevarious specializations, and that makes comparing students’ academic achievementdifficult. Thus, in the current study it was chosen to compare adolescents’educational and professional attitudes: negative attitude towards getting education(anti-school attitudes) as well as motivation to master the chosen profession andmake it their future occupation (professional involvement). The results demonstratethat boys and girls build their friendships based on professional involvementhomophily.

Students initiate friendships with the classmates that share their desireto become an electrician, a florist or a mechanic. In this case social status within thegroup changes depending on anti-school attitudes of adolescents, but this effectvaries for boys and for girls. The longitudinal data used in the current survey doesonly allow making statements about how anti-school attitudes influence the socialstatus of students. It was discovered, that the social status of boys does not changebecause of their attitude towards studies: no matter how strong their anti-schoolattitudes might be, it won’t affect their position in the peer group.

For girls theopposite is the case: negative attitude towards education lowers the number offriendships, which means their status in the peer group becomes lower as well. Thus,girls who are interested in being friends with their peers in the group graduallychange their anti school attitudes towards more positive. Moreover, girls are stronglyaffected by their peers, and they gradually adjust their attitudes to fit with the onesof their friends.Homophily in academic achievements is confirmed by the results of otherstudies, that prove the importance of social selection based on academicperformance in the school environment [Brechwald, Prinstein, 2011; Ryan, 2000].The process of social influence that is only found among girls, can be explained bytheir predisposition to build friendships and adjust their behaviours according totheir social circle [Rose, Rudolph, 2006; Lansford, Parker, 1999]. The fact that antischool attitudes do not influence boys’ social status within the group the same waycan be explained by the overall low level of motivation, same as in the case with the137% of school classes with low motivation.

Average level of educational motivationin vocational schools in significantly lower than in secondary schools. Thus, one cansuggest that in this educational environment other factors of achieving andpreserving a high social status, rather than academic achievement and motivation,become important.The current study pays special attention to the connection between social statusand status of the ethnic minority. Integration of ethnic minority children (migrants)and the role school plays in this process is extremely significant.

Methods of socialnetwork analysis provide an instrument that allows to study real social interactionsof adolescents with different migration status. The current study examinesinterethnic relations both through friendship connections, as well as the structure ofnegative relations.Relationships between adolescents are ethnically segregated in many countries(USA, England, Germany, Sweden, and Netherlands) [Moody, 2001; Leszczensky,Pink, 2015; Plenty, Jonsson, 2016; Santos, Kornienko, Rivas-Drake, 2017]. Ethniccomposition of school and neighborhood play a very important role in creatingopportunities for interethnic relations [Munniksma, Scheepers, Stark, 2016; Smith,van Tubergen, Maas et al, 2016; Alba, Holdaway, 2013 (book)].The current studydemonstrated that migrant kids are not socially excluded or subjected to segregationby their peers, who represent the ethnic majority.

The analysis of the structure offriendships demonstrates that adolescents, which belong the ethnic majority, do notpay much attention to the ethnic status of their friends: they have as manyrepresentatives of the ethnic minority among their friends, as the structure of theclass allows. Some prior studies have shown, that adolescents are ‘ethnically blind’while choosing their friends and their number of friends from an ethnic minority isproportional to the proportion of foreign students in the class [Иванюшина,Александров, 2012; Baerveldt et al., 2007; Vermeij et al., 2009].

This is differentfrom the situation in American schools, where racial differences basically becomeone of the main criteria for segregation among adolescents [Moody, 2001]. Due to14the fact that Russian schools are polyethnic and separate ethnic groups are not quitepresented, the current study used the term “visible minority”. Analysis of structureof negative social relations demonstrated that adolescents representing the ethnicmajority are more likely to create negative ties within their own group, rather thanwith ethnic minority group members. Ethnic minority adolescents are more oftenestablishing friendships rather than negative ties within their own group.