The co-evolution of friend and help relationships and their different relationship formation and social influence

Abstract

This study examined adolescents’ friend and help relationships to better understand their interrelated nature and the different characteristics of relationship formation and social influence in the behavioral and emotional dimensions of academic engagement. Multiplex networks of friends and helpers were collected (N = 542; Mage = 11.46; 20 classrooms) and analyzed using a multilevel Bayesian social network analysis (multilevel random-coefficients SAOM). The results showed that exchanging help played a role in the formation of friendships, and that friendships provided a relational context wherein help can be exchanged. Observable behavioral academic engagement played a more salient role in the formation of friend and help relationships, and highly engaged (in behavioral) adolescents were more often nominated as helpers. Both the behavioral and emotional dimensions of friends’ and helper’ academic engagement contributed to adolescents’ own behavioral and emotional engagement over time, but the social influence was more salient among friends compared to helpers. These results underscore that examining the dependencies among multiple networks and distinguishing between different dimensions of behavior and emotion are critical to elucidate the complex processes of relationship formation and social influence.