Cooperative Learning Intervention Predicts Changes in Patterns of Friendship Networks Related To Peer Belonging and Cross-Group Ties.

Given the central role of friendships for adolescents social and academic needs and importance of identifying effective interventions to promote these outcomes, the present study examined interpersonal mechanisms through which a cooperative learning intervention changed adolescent friendship network dynamics related to self-perceived peer belonging and rejection. Specifically, we tested whether friendship network selection and influence on peer belonging and rejection varied in the intervention vs. control schools. It also examined whether the intervention promoted selection of intergroup friendships (across gender and ethnoracially minoritized/ majority group membership) and led to changes in network structure representative of greater social integration. Using three waves of data from a cluster randomized trial of Cooperative Learning (7 intervention and 8 control middle schools; n = 1,890 students, 47.1% female, 12–13 years of age; 75.2% White, 13.2% Latino, 5.3% multiracial, 3.1% American Indian/Alaska Native; less than 1% African American, Asian American, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander), stochastic actor-oriented models were conducted to address the research questions. Results indicated that friendship network dynamics in the intervention vs. control schools were characterized by (1) nonsignificant preference to befriend same-group peers in terms of their ethnoracially minoritized vs. majority status, (2) smaller preference to befriend others who are similar in perceived peer belonging, and (3) less hierarchical friendship network structures. These findings suggest that adoption of evidence-based cooperative learning strategies is effective in promoting friendship network integration across peer belonging and ethnoracially minoritized and majority group memberships, which leads to changes in friendship network structure that are associated with greater social integration. These findings also suggest that cooperative learning can function as a classroom-based mechanism for reshaping adolescent peer ecologies, shifting network-level processes in ways that foster more supportive and inclusive peer relationships.