Peer Influence and Educational Preferences: Direct Influence or Access to Friends' Educational Resources?

  • Published In: Social Development, 2025, v. 34, n. 1. P. 1 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Vit, Eszter; Lenkewitz, Sven; Krause, Robert 3 of 3

Abstract

While educational preferences can be influenced by friends through various mechanisms, the specific pathways of this influence remain underexplored. This study employs random‐coefficient multilevel stochastic actor‐oriented models to examine a longitudinal sample of Hungarian students (Nstudents = 493, Nclasses = 21) observed from fifth to seventh grade. The study investigates how friends' preferences and friends' parental resources influence educational preferences while accounting for friends' academic achievement and friendship selection. The analysis identifies distinct pathways through which friends can influence educational preferences. The study suggests that adolescents do not adjust their secondary school track preferences to conform to their friends' preferences but are instead affected by the indirect influence of their friends' parental background. Students who befriend adolescents with highly educated parents are more likely to adjust their preferences toward the academically oriented secondary school track. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Social Development. 2025/02, Vol. 34, Issue 1, p1
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Health and Medicine
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:0961-205X
  • DOI:10.1111/sode.12789
  • Accession Number:183858326
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Social Development is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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