Friendships and Academic Achievement

Early adolescence is a critical transition period for the maintenance of academ-ic achievement. One factor that school systems often fail to take into account is the influence of friends on academic achievement during middle school. This study investigated the influence of friends ’ characteristics on change in academic achievement from Grade 6 to Grade 8 and the role of students ’ own characteristics as moderators of this relationship. The sample included 1,278 participants (698 girls). Linear regressions suggest that students with academi-cally engaged friends may achieve to levels higher than expected in Grade 8. However, when considering the significant, negative influence of friends ’ prob-lem behavior, the role of friends ’ school engagement became nonsignificant. Low-achieving girls who had high-achieving friends in Grade 6 had lower aca-demic achievement than expected by Grade 8. In contrast, high-achieving girls seemed to benefit from having high-achieving friends. Implications for theory and prevention efforts targeting young adolescents are discussed