Skip to main content

More friends of the opposite gender, higher school grades - or maybe not





Boys with many girl friends in their friendship circle performed better at school than boys who only had male friends (The Economist, August 8, 2015). The same 1995 study revealed no link between the number of male friends girls at high school had and their school grades.

However, a University of South Carolina study published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (July 2015) called ‘The girl next door: The effect of opposite gender friends on high school achievement’ reveals a different result.

Andrew Hill of USC wanted to eliminate any possible bias in the study (e.g. parents choosing friends for their children), so instead of looking at the number of opposite-gender friends, he looked at the proportion of shoolmates of either sex living near each student being surveyed. The rationale was that parents do not choose where to live based on the gender of their neighbour’s children. The neighbourhood method was likely to take out the bias, but still be relevant because children are more likely to be friends with other children who live close to them.

Hill selected 20 closest neighbours for each of the 450 high school students in the research survey. He then isolated the effects of having more friends of the opposite gender on school performance, taking each student’s grades.

He found that for every 10% more children of the opposite sex among a student’s friendship circle, the student’s grade-point average (GPA) declined by 0.1 (GPAs range from 0 to 4). Therefore if a student (male or female) had 10 friends of the opposite gender, they would score 1 GPA less than students who had less friends of the opposite gender.

Below the age of 16 years, the effects of having more opposite-gender friends are restricted to science and mathematics grades only. Beyond 16 years, the effects of declining grades were seen in English and history grades too. So more friends of the opposite gender, the lower the school grades.


But there were advantages of having several opposite-gender friends during high school. Hill’s original group of 14 years ago were re-interviewed. And Hill found that the more opposite-gender friends, the more likely that the student was or had been married.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
Post a Comment
Read more