Peers, parents, and attitudes about school

Educational attitudes are linked to long-term educational success through motivating effort and greater attention to the future. This study focuses on the role of friends and of parents in the school-grade cohort in shaping adolescent attitude development. First, I explore the effect of friends’ attitudes on an adolescent’s attitudes. Second, I ask whether parental investments and educational expectations in the adolescent’s school cohort can moderate the influence of friends on attitudes. I find that adolescents’ attitudes about school respond to friends’ attitudes and that parental educational expectations within a cohort can moderate the influence of friends on attitudes.