IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v122y2015i2p577-594.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Students’ Individual Choices of Peers to Work with During Lessons May Counteract Segregation

Author

Listed:
  • Mary-Anne Holfve-Sabel

Abstract

The aim was to test whether or not students from differently segregated schools within a city could compensate for this variation through their choices of classmates to work with. Data for 1,697 students from 78 classes in year 6 of compulsory school, with an average of 20 % immigrants, was collected covering both segregated and non-segregated areas with respect to housing and schools. Each student was asked which three peers he/she preferred working with in the classroom and ranked these names in order 1–3. The coherence of the networks formed using bilateral choices was analysed by use of eigenvector centrality (SSI). A higher SSI of a network indicated a high coherence of individuals within the network and therefore considered more isolated (or segregated) than networks with lower SSI. The names of the students were categorized as Scandinavian or non-Scandinavian. Networks were formed consisting of Scandinavians, non-Scandinavians and a mixture. In classrooms with non-Scandinavians, mixed networks were quite common. There was no difference of weighted SSI between the three types of networks within the same school class. Furthermore the coherence of the total number of networks formed by Scandinavians, non-Scandinavians and mixed networks was equal. Segregation between the different student networks could neither be demonstrated at a class level, nor between the three types of networks irrespective of class. Segregation within schools was thus at least partly neutralized by peer effects seen in student´s voluntary choices. Outside networks overrepresentation of lonely non-Scandinavian girls and of absent Scandinavian boys was found. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Mary-Anne Holfve-Sabel, 2015. "Students’ Individual Choices of Peers to Work with During Lessons May Counteract Segregation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 577-594, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:122:y:2015:i:2:p:577-594
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-014-0693-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11205-014-0693-8
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-014-0693-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Östberg, Viveca, 2003. "Children in classrooms: peer status, status distribution and mental well-being," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 17-29, January.
    2. Szulkin, Ryszard & Jonsson, Jan O., 2007. "Ethnic Segregation and Educational Outcomes in Swedish Comprehensive Schools," SULCIS Working Papers 2007:2, Stockholm University, Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS.
    3. David J. Zimmerman, 2003. "Peer Effects in Academic Outcomes: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(1), pages 9-23, February.
    4. Federico Echenique & Roland G. Fryer, 2007. "A Measure of Segregation Based on Social Interactions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 441-485.
    5. Ludi Simpson, 2007. "Ghettos of the mind: the empirical behaviour of indices of segregation and diversity," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(2), pages 405-424, March.
    6. Boozer, Michael A. & Cacciola, Stephen E., 2001. "Inside the 'Black Box' of Project Star: Estimation of Peer Effects Using Experimental Data," Center Discussion Papers 28524, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    7. Gerhard G. Van De Bunt & Marijtje A.J. Van Duijn & Tom A.B. Snijders, 1999. "Friendship Networks Through Time: An Actor-Oriented Dynamic Statistical Network Model," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 167-192, July.
    8. Michael A. Boozer & Stephen E. Cacciola, 2001. "Inside the 'Black Box' of Project STAR: Estimation of Peer Effects Using Experimental Data," Working Papers 832, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    9. Caroline Hoxby, 2000. "Peer Effects in the Classroom: Learning from Gender and Race Variation," NBER Working Papers 7867, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Julia Müller & Thorsten Upmann, 2017. "Eigenvalue Productivity: Measurement of Individual Contributions in Teams," CESifo Working Paper Series 6679, CESifo.
    2. Joao Firmino & Luis C. Nunes & Silvia de Almeida & Susana Batista, 2020. "Student segregation across and within schools. The case of the Portuguese public school system," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp633, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fertig, Michael, 2003. "Educational Production, Endogenous Peer Group Formation and Class Composition - Evidence From the PISA 2000 Study," RWI Discussion Papers 2, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    2. Victor Lavy & Analia Schlosser, 2011. "Mechanisms and Impacts of Gender Peer Effects at School," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 1-33, April.
    3. Gioia De Melo, 2011. "Peer effects identified through social networks. Evidence from Uruguayan schools," Department of Economics University of Siena 627, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    4. Modena, Francesca & Rettore, Enrico & Tanzi, Giulia, 2021. "Does Gender Matter? The Effect of High Performing Peers on Academic Performances," IZA Discussion Papers 14806, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Vincent Boucher & Yann Bramoullé & Habiba Djebbari & Bernard Fortin, 2014. "Do Peers Affect Student Achievement? Evidence From Canada Using Group Size Variation," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 91-109, January.
    6. Berlinski, Samuel & Busso, Matias & Giannola, Michele, 2023. "Helping struggling students and benefiting all: Peer effects in primary education," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    7. Vardardottir, Arna, 2015. "The impact of classroom peers in a streaming system," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 110-128.
    8. Adriaan R. Soetevent, 2006. "Empirics of the Identification of Social Interactions; An Evaluation of the Approaches and Their Results," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 193-228, April.
    9. Eric D. Gould & Victor Lavy & M. Daniele Paserman, 2009. "Does Immigration Affect the Long‐Term Educational Outcomes of Natives? Quasi‐Experimental Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(540), pages 1243-1269, October.
    10. Chen, Xi & Kanbur, Ravi & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2011. "Peer effects, risk pooling, and status seeking: What explains gift spending escalation in rural China?," IFPRI discussion papers 1151, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Steve Cicala & Roland G. Fryer, Jr. & Jörg L. Spenkuch, 2011. "A Roy Model of Social Interactions," NBER Working Papers 16880, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Kang, Changhui, 2007. "Classroom peer effects and academic achievement: Quasi-randomization evidence from South Korea," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 458-495, May.
    13. Adriaan R Soetevent & Peter Kooreman, 2005. "Social Ties within School Classes: The Roles of Gender, Ethnicity, and Having Older Siblings," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 373-391, Autumn.
    14. Vardardottir, Arna, 2013. "Peer effects and academic achievement: a regression discontinuity approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 108-121.
    15. Mora, Toni & Oreopoulos, Philip, 2011. "Peer effects on high school aspirations: Evidence from a sample of close and not-so-close friends," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 575-581, August.
    16. Ahn, Tom & Trogdon, Justin G., 2017. "Peer delinquency and student achievement in middle school," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 192-217.
    17. Mary A. Burke & Tim R. Sass, 2013. "Classroom Peer Effects and Student Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 51-82.
    18. Andreas Ammermueller & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2006. "Peer Effects in European Primary Schools: Evidence from PIRLS," CEE Discussion Papers 0065, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    19. Jonathan Guryan & Kory Kroft & Matthew J. Notowidigdo, 2009. "Peer Effects in the Workplace: Evidence from Random Groupings in Professional Golf Tournaments," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(4), pages 34-68, October.
    20. Andrés Barrios-Fernández, 2022. "Neighbors' Effects on University Enrollment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 30-60, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:122:y:2015:i:2:p:577-594. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.