Connecting in College: How Friendship Networks Matter for Academic and Social Success

235 Pages·2016·1.31 MB·English

by  Janice M. McCabe

Connecting in College

Connecting in College
How Friendship Networks Matter for
Academic and Social Success
JANICE M. MCCABE
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2016 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
Printed in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 40949- 8 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 40952- 8 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 40966- 5 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226409665.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McCabe, Janice M., author.
Title: Connecting in college : how friendship networks matter for academic
and social success / Janice M. McCabe.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016012481 | ISBN 9780226409498 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780226409528 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780226409665 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: College students—Social networks—United States.
Classifi cation: LCC LB3607 .M33 2016 | DDC 378.1/980973—dc23 LC record
available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016012481
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1 992
(Permanence of Paper).
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations / vii
Introduction / 1
ONE / Friendship / 20
TWO / Balance / 39
THREE / Tight- Knitters / 66
FOUR / Compartmentalizers / 95
FIVE / Samplers / 117
SIX / Friendships after College / 140
SEVEN / Conclusion / 163
Acknowledgments / 181
Methodological Appendix: Researching Friendships
on One College Campus / 183
Notes / 195
References / 211
Index / 223

ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
I.1 Sociogram representing the tight- knitter network type (Adriana) / 4
I.2 Sociogram representing the compartmentalizer network type (Jim) / 4
I.3 Sociogram representing the sampler network type (Steve) / 5
1.1 Number of friends in students’ networks / 23
2.1 Students’ self-p lacement on the academic- social scale / 45
2.2 Students’ self-p lacement on the academic- social scale by network type / 45
2.3 Average GPA for each position on the academic- social scale / 47
3.1 Alberto’s friendship network / 68
3.2 Keisha’s friendship network / 71
4.1 Mary’s friendship network / 99
4.2 Julia’s friendship network / 102
4.3 Whitney’s friendship network / 106
5.1 Martin’s friendship network / 118
5.2 Amanda’s friendship network / 123
6.1 Alberto’s friendship network after college / 147
6.2 Mary’s friendship network after college / 152
6.3 Martin’s friendship network after college / 155
TABLES
I.1 Typology of network types / 6
I.2 Characteristics of my participants and students at MU and peer institutions / 14
viii / Illustrations
1.1 Patterns in network density by racial identity / 32
3.1 Selected characteristics of higher- achieving and lower- achieving tight- knitters / 74
3.2 Academic outcome by network type / 77
4.1 Selected characteristics of compartmentalizers / 96
5.1 Selected characteristics of samplers / 125
6.1 Characteristics of after- college networks by during- college network type / 146
6.2 Network type during and after college / 148
6.3 Selected characteristics of higher- achieving and lower- achieving tight- knitters’
after- college networks / 150
A.1 Characteristics of participants by network type / 185
Introduction
Some friends were benefi cial to my career. Other ones were just troublemakers
and totally discouraged me from studying. But my really close friends were really
good motivators and were like, “Hey, let’s go to the library” [or] “Hey, we have to
get up early and study.”
—Betsy
Like Betsy, many college students rely on their friends for more than just
having fun. But surprisingly, we know very little about what college stu-
dents’ friendships look like, or how they might benefi t from these friend-
ships, socially and academically, in the short and the long term. At a time
when only four out of 10 students graduate from four-y ear colleges within
four years (DeAngelo et al. 2011), understanding friendships may assist
students and institutions in drawing on friends’ benefi ts and avoiding their
pitfalls.1 In this book, I explore how friendship networks matter for college
students’ lives both during and after college. In doing so, I identify differ-
ent types of friendship networks—for instance, the extent to which young
people have tight, cohesive friendship groups or move effortlessly among
different social circles—and how these networks are associated with social
and academic success for students from different race, gender, and class
backgrounds. As we see with Betsy, the benefi ts of friendship are not the
same for all friends. These benefi ts also are not the same for all students. I
fi nd instead that friendship network type infl uences how friends matter for
students’ academic and social successes and failures. Consider the follow-
ing three students whom I met during my research for the book.
Alberto was a fi fth- year college student at a public four-y ear university in
the midwestern United States, which I will refer to as “MU” (Midwest Uni-