Friendship networks in inclusive elementary classrooms: Changes and stability related to students’ gender and self-perceived social inclusion

Autor(en)

Ariana Garrote, Carmen Zurbriggen, Susanne Schwab

Abstrakt

Friendships with classmates play a significant role in student’s development. However, only some friendships are maintained for longer than a school year and their formation depend on many factors. One important factor is gender because gender homophily is consistently found in friendship networks. In addition, there is evidence that same-gender friendships are more stable. In the context of inclusive education, friendship can be considered as one of four key dimensions of social inclusion. While three of these dimensions are assessed from others’ perspective, self-perception of social inclusion focuses solely on the individual students’ view. However, hardly any studies investigated how students’ self-perception of social inclusion is related to friendships, and more specifically, whether and how self-perceived social inclusion is related to changes in friendship networks in the classroom. To contribute to this research gap, friendship networks of 280 students aged 9–11 years (49% girls) in 15 classes of Grade 4 were examined at the beginning and at the end of one school year. Network changes were analyzed with longitudinal social network analyses. Students’ gender and self-perception of inclusion were added as predictors of changes in the friendship networks. The results confirmed gender homophily for formation and stability. The analyses also showed that students who perceived themselves as socially included nominated more best friends at the end of the school year but were not necessarily perceived as best friends by their peers. This highlights the importance of considering different perspectives to better understand social inclusion in classrooms.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Bildungswissenschaft, Institut für Lehrer*innenbildung

Externe Organisation(en)

Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz , Université de Fribourg, North-West University

Journal

Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal

Band

26

Seiten

1479-1497

Anzahl der Seiten

19

ISSN

1381-2890

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09804-z

Publikationsdatum

2023

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

503034 Inklusive Pädagogik

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Education, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 4 – Hochwertige Bildung

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/ac14e62f-4373-45ab-aa2f-46180b32aea5