Best Friends Forever? Friendship Stability Across School Transition

Full report: Best Friends Forever? Friendship Stability Across School Transition

Published by: British Journal of Educational Psychology, September 2018

SUMMARY

The quality of children's friendships has been linked to mental health and educational attainment. However, the transition to secondary school can interrupt the stability of friendships. Friends may move on to different schools while new social and educational challenges may disrupt friendships.

A group of researchers from University College London, Cardiff University and the University of Surrey set out to explore rates of friendship stability and whether maintaining a stable best friend helped children adjust to secondary school. Schools vary in their approach to supporting friendships, with some allowing children to nominate friends they would like in the same class. Others do not accept input from children and parents when establishing class groups. The team wanted to test whether school policies that promote friendships have an effect on friendship stability.

Data was gathered from 593 children transitioning into 10 UK secondary schools in the South East of England. An initial assessment took place during the last term of the last year of primary school. Children were then followed up a year later during the last term of the first year of secondary school. At both assessments children were asked to identify their best friend, allowing researchers to record whether that core relationship had changed or not. Children were then asked to measure the quality of their friendships by agreeing or disagreeing with statements such as: "My friend helps me when I am having trouble with something."

Children were also asked to name their second and third best friends at each assessment. School attainment was measured using teachers' ratings of performance in English and maths while behavioural and emotional problems were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

The researchers found a substantial instability in children's friendships as they moved from primary to secondary school, with 73 per cent reporting a different best friend one year later and 27 per cent keeping the same best friend until the end of the first year of secondary school. Previous research has found best friend stability is much higher during a period that does not include moving between schools. Most of the best friends named were attending the same school as the participant - 87 per cent at primary school and 84 per cent at secondary - suggesting schools are an important influence on children's friendships.

Children with higher academic attainment and fewer emotional and conduct problems were more likely to have stable best friends over the transition to secondary school. Higher quality best friendships were more likely to survive the transition to secondary school. Children who were not doing so well at primary school and whose best friendships were low quality were more likely to lose friends in the move to secondary school.

Having a stable best friend was associated with higher academic attainment at the end of the first year of secondary school. It was also associated with a small reduction in conduct issues. However, there was no evidence of an association between best friend stability and emotional problems.

Looking at the top three friendships reported by children, the researchers found a greater number of lower quality friendships was linked to increased emotional problems.

Two secondary schools in the study used friendship requests to allocate children to class groups and these schools tended to have higher levels of best friendship stability - 35 per cent and 32 per cent compared with an average of 25 per cent for other schools in the study. Children in these schools were on average 50 per cent more likely to have stable best friends compared with children in the other schools.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Incorporating children's friendship preferences into the configuration of their secondary school class groups may increase best friend stability, which is associated with reduced levels of conduct problems and increased academic attainment. As children with pre-existing emotional and conduct problems and lower academic attainment are at higher risk of losing best friends, schools could look at supporting friendships among these children in particular.

FURTHER READING

Identifying Factors That Predict Successful and Difficult Transitions to Secondary School, Frances Rice and others, The Nuffield Foundation, 2015

Distinguishing Children Who Form New Best Friendships From Those Who Do Not, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Julie Bowker et al, September 2010

What Makes a Successful Transition From Primary to Secondary School?, Maria Evangelou et al, Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2008