Stability of Peer Acceptance and Rejection and Their Effect on Academic Performance in Primary Education: A Longitudinal Research

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to analyze the evolution of peer relationships and academic performance and the effect of the former on the latter in primary education, differentiating between positive and negative relationships. To this end, the likes and dislikes received by each student from his/her classmates were measured at four time points between first and sixth grades, as well as the marks given by their teachers in the subjects of mathematics and Spanish language. One-hundred-sixty-nine students (52.7% girls) from 10 classes of five public schools participated in this study. To verify the objectives, we used a complex structural equation model, obtained from a combination of two autoregressive models (AR, one for social preferences and another one for academic performance), two multi-trait multi-method models (MTMM, one for acceptances and rejections and another one for academic performance in mathematics and Spanish language), and an effects model of social preferences on academic performance. This study confirms: (a) The stability of both peer relationships and academic performance throughout childhood; (b) the stable influence of social relationships on academic performance; and (c) the importance of considering acceptance and rejection differentially. This work reveals the failure of the school to address initial disadvantages, and it provides guidelines for early and inclusive interventions.