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Exploring social‐emotional learning, school climate, and social network analysis
Author(s) -
Xu Maria,
MacDonnell Marisa,
Wang Angela,
Elias Maurice J.
Publication year - 2023
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.22881
Subject(s) - centrality , psychology , social network analysis , closeness , psychological intervention , school climate , social psychology , classroom climate , social network (sociolinguistics) , applied psychology , social capital , developmental psychology , pedagogy , political science , sociology , social media , social science , mathematical analysis , mathematics , combinatorics , psychiatry , law
There is currently limited research on student peer leadership in the social‐emotional literature. This paper used exploratory methods of social network analysis to understand the structure of school peer relationships, peer leadership, and school climate. Self‐report measures of perceptions of peer leadership and climate were given to students during the 2016–2017 school year. Data collected from a peer leadership survey were used to calculate closeness and indegree centrality values. The results showed that student Ambassadors have higher peer nominated leadership scores compared to non‐Ambassador controls and the rest of the school. Additionally, Ambassadors did not demonstrate a change in centrality scores, non‐Ambassador students increased in centrality scores, and school climate was not correlated with the leadership centrality score. Results suggest that influence spreads, and that good leadership may be emulated among students, leading to a diffusion effect. This supports the need for good leaders in schools. Additionally, climate may not be associated with leadership centrality scores due to the length of the intervention. Future studies should look toward behavioral data to unravel what comprises positive and negative influences in Social‐Emotional and Character Development interventions.