Doctoral Dissertation Research: Peer and Family Influences on U.S. Middle School Students' Agendas for Development

Emory University, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Each year over 1.5 million US students cross the boundary between elementary and middle school, a crucial developmental period when students are often permitted and encouraged to take greater responsibility for their choice of affiliations and activities. This dissertation research project by a cultural anthropology student studies what role family and peers play in students' formulation of agendas during this social transition. The student will follow a cohort of children during their first year of middle school in a peri-urban Atlanta community. Combining participant observation, a series of semi-structured interviews with a sample of 40 students and their parents, and a sequence of broad school-based surveys, the researcher will examine how students prioritize short-term agendas, how family and peer networks influence these agendas, and how students, by choosing who influences them, act as agents in their own socialization. This study will improve our understanding of how local networks of social relations serve as mediators of cultural influence and change. The new knowledge to be created will also be valuable for policymakers to understand how families and peers serve as informal sources of cultural education during the middle school transition.