Students: Dissertation: Nicole Sage

ABSTRACT

This study examined peer group processes in the classroom that can potentially explain why motivationally “rich” children get “richer” whereas motivationally “poor” children get “poorer.” In contrast to research on group processes which focuses on socialization influences from group to individual, this study focuses on contributions from the individual to his/her group. While it is acknowledged that groups can be influential in shaping children’s behaviors in the classroom, the viewpoint taken for this study is that children actively choose group members based on their own self-system state, thereby creating their own peer environments in which they develop.

Viewed as open complex systems, children’s natural peer groups were examined using data collected from students and their teachers at five measurement points across a school year in four grade 4/5 classrooms. Out of 112 students, data were obtained for 94 (51 male, 43 female) regarding their classroom engagement, peer network affiliations, and associative preferences (“ideal groups” of classmates they would like to hang out with). In an effort to overcome some of the challenges that group researchers face, methodologies argued to reliably capture children’s natural peer groups and to measure the groups’ psychological characteristics were used. In addition, a hierarchical systems framework was applied whereby the underlying group processes could be examined across time. Two of seven hierarchical perspectives were used to examine influences from the individual to his/her group. First, the focus was on the changing nature of a child’s peer group; namely, change in group size, member turnover, and psychological characteristics. It was assumed that these attributes emerge as a result of the characteristics of each group member and the interaction patterns among them. Next the focus was shifted to the proximal processes by which the peer group context emerges: selection and elimination. The data suggested that while group membership changes considerably across a school year, most change occurs in the beginning of the year. These changes appear to occur in a way where the child him/herself creates a peer context in the classroom that is stimulating and compatible to his/her own changes in engagement across the school year.

August 28, 2009

DISSERTATION COMMITTEE

Cathleen L. Smith, Chair
Todd Bodner
George G. Lendaris
Dalton Miller-Jones
Roderic C. Diman, Graduate Studies Rep.