More Friends, Better Grades: Study

The key to maintaining a fighting GPA? Friends.

So says a recent study by UCLA professor Andrew J. Fuligni and his former graduate student Melissa R. Witkow. According to their survey of more than 600 high school seniors in the Los Angeles area, in-school friends buoy each other to better grades.

Science Daily has more:

"We found that within an adolescent's friendship group, those with a higher proportion of friends who attended the same school received higher grades," said Witkow, now an assistant professor of psychology at Willamette University. "This is partially because in-school friends are more likely to be achievement-oriented and share and support school-related activities, including studying, because they are all in the same environment."

The results did not change across gender or race. Witkow stressed that the importance of out-of-school friendships should not be demeaned and that those relationships may well be paramount to a child's success as well.

What do you think? Have social relationships helped you in school? Leave a comment below.

Comments

[flagle]

10:42 PM on 06/08/2010

It's important to note that it says a "higher proportion" of friends in your school...which just means that it applies to kids in small schools too. More friends probably means more comfort and possibly less stress. Those are logical lead-ins to learning better.

Thanks for the article!

[RE Law]

01:46 PM on 06/08/2010

This is absolutely true. While studying and reading on my own was beneficial, there is simply no substitute to studying in a group and breaking up work and notes to cover in a group. Particularly beneficial in law school and upper level undergrad classes where the reading and work loads are insane. Well stated.

[nolabels]

09:25 AM on 06/08/2010

Definitely true for me.

[Palaver]

09:18 AM on 06/08/2010

And what do you know? They all turn in the same paper. Group think kills originality.

[Juhd69]

11:41 PM on 06/07/2010

My friends and I smoked a lot of weed, sooooooo..................................

[Reyeshawk]

09:03 PM on 06/07/2010

I certainly see this with my daughter. Her friends are almost all over achievers and they compare grades constantly. Her two major motivations to study are Ivy League acceptance and beating the people ahead of her in class ranking.

[Evita Luisa]

10:29 PM on 06/07/2010

I, myself, went outstanding state school (but out of state for us, but in a neighboring state where out-of-state applicants had an even tougher time than the already in-state crowd did) and then, after working a bit, got accepted to an ivy league grad school, top 25 nationally. I cringe when I think I would write what you do about your kids -- that is sad. My parents NEVER let me forget, human first, all the rest follows.
I'm sure it's just SO great to think that those two major motivations are "so on." Personally, I think they are limiting and what is so wrong about America today. Compete, compete, compete. Beat the others. Rah rah rah.
There is so much more to life.
Even if the kids get into ivy league, they are going state first. Priorities. and where money should be spent.

[Reyeshawk]

11:10 PM on 06/07/2010

You read so much into what I wrote that isn't there. We have NEVER pushed our daughter, she does it all herself. Her ultimate goal is medical school (neurosurgeon or orthopedic) followed by serving with Doctors Without Borders. Don't judge someone you know absolutely nothing about. The self-righteousness in your post is sickening.

[hottingers]

06:33 PM on 06/07/2010

It's not more friends, better grades. It's better grades, more 'friends'. Friends who want 'help'.

[DRock067]

02:21 AM on 06/08/2010

exactly, more people to cheat off of

[hoytvanderbilt]

06:30 PM on 06/07/2010

Do facebook friends count? If they do, behold my 15 year cousin, she's going to collect PHD's like crops on farmville.

[cb750]

05:46 PM on 06/07/2010

Oh boy! Now we can have gov provide friends for college students since more friends mean better grades.

[GoDems2012]

05:32 PM on 06/07/2010

Studies also show that studying hard makes you excel in your studies.

[hypnotoad72]

05:29 PM on 06/07/2010

Two friends (albeit close ones), no real social network, grew up isolated and a true geek.

Somehow managing over 3.90 GPA right now.

Maybe if I had a few friends and got laid, it would never have dropped from 4.00 to begin with...

"The Things that Dreams are Made of" - The Human League (1981). Good lyrics... not entirely irrelevant to the issue posed in this article, but a tangent nonetheless...

[Always For Real]

05:13 PM on 06/07/2010

I don't think it is that complicated. Brighter, healthy kids that naturally get good grades also tend to be socially healthier and end up with more friends. Introverted nerds may be the exception, no insult intended that group.

[rhubarbsblog]

05:04 PM on 06/07/2010

I think it depends on who your friends are. But in my HS the popular kids with many friends always studied and did homework together, so I think when you put more brains into an assignment you're more likely to get higher grades than someone working alone. Obviously students can achieve fine grades working alone.

[RFlo]

05:00 PM on 06/07/2010

more people to cheat off of! DUH!

[alnicov]

05:15 PM on 06/07/2010

It's not cheating, it's 'peer support'!

[hypnotoad72]

05:29 PM on 06/07/2010

LOL

[Hadriel]

04:56 PM on 06/07/2010

Definately this was not the case for me. I had a lot of friends in High School and because of it I was constantly distracted with one social occasion or another. Oftentimes I would neglect my schoolwork in order to go hang out with my friends. I honestly don't know how I got through High School. I never did homework, I never studied, I always turned the big reports in late....I was just completely apathetic about school in general. In my mind, the very LAST thing a person needed to succeed in this world was an education. This could be a reflection of the typical Teenageer "I know everything" attitude I'm not entirely sure. But I do know that I had lots of friends and graduated with a rather low GPA.

[Reyeshawk]

09:04 PM on 06/07/2010

I think it depends on who choose to be your friends. I choose poorly in college and let them have way too much influence on my study habits. Not blaming, I still made the decisions.