Researchers find that children's successes and failures can be influenced by their friends

By Staff Writer

According to researchers from the University of Oregon, the friends that teens make as they move from elementary school to middle school may signify their future successes or failures. The study, which is published in the Journal of Early Adolescence, looked at the data of 1,278 students, 55 percent of whom were girls, from a previous study.

The children were asked to name their three best friends, whom the researchers studied for behavior and grades. They found that students whose friends are respectful and social tend to perform better academically. In contrast, those who had friends who misbehaved had lower grades.

Marie-Helene Veronneau and Thomas J. Dishion of the University of Oregon Child and Family Center wrote that many children look to their social environment, mainly school, for clues as to how they fit in.

In addition, Veronneau wrote that parents ought to pay attention to the friends that their children spend time with, either by asking them or their teachers.