Social Environment and Academic Performance: A Systematic Review of Stochastic Actor-Oriented Research

Abstract

Academic achievements play an important role in an individual’s professional development, and are also considered one of the main characteristics of an education system. Academic achievements are associated with multiple factors, including the social environment of students. In this paper we review the studies that use stochastic actororiented models to examine the effects of social networks on academic achievements. We consider both the results and designs of existing studies and outline potential avenues for future research. We demonstrate that the majority of studies analyze the networks of positive relationships in schools. Only a few studies are based on data from universities. We also conclude that the majority of studies are based on data from western democracies. These findings can be considered as a basis for further empirical analysis.

Keywords

• social network analysis
• peer effects
• sociology of education
• academic achievements
• stochastic actor-oriented models