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The Role of Student Background Characteristics and Sense of Belonging in the Development of Peer Networks at the Transition to Higher Education

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Title: The Role of Student Background Characteristics and Sense of Belonging in the Development of Peer Networks at the Transition to Higher Education
Language: English
Authors: Pieter M. van Lamoen (ORCID 0000-0003-0209-8315), Marieke Meeuwisse, Annemarie M. F. Hiemstra, Lidia R. Arends, Sabine E. Severiens, Jasperina Brouwer
Source: Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal. 2025 28(1).
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Higher Education, College Freshmen, Student Characteristics, Student Adjustment, Peer Groups, School Transition, Cultural Influences, Peer Relationship, Friendship, Sense of Belonging, Help Seeking
DOI: 10.1007/s11218-024-10014-4
ISSN: 1381-2890
1573-1928
Abstract: At the transition to higher education, students from diverse backgrounds develop peer networks that support learning in higher education. However, few studies have investigated how students' background characteristics play a role in social selection mechanisms such as friendship and help-seeking and what drives the formation of diverse peer networks, including the role of students' sense of belonging in higher education. We studied how students' migration background and generation in higher education-status affect peer network development at the transition to higher education and how sense of belonging plays a role in the development of diverse peer networks. In total, 247 first-year higher education students filled out surveys at three times during the first semester at the transition to higher education. Longitudinal complete social network data on students' friendship and help-seeking relationships in the course programme were analysed using stochastic actor-oriented modelling. At the start of the academic year, continuing-generation in higher education students and students with a strong sense of belonging were more active with building relationships. Students were more likely to connect to others with a similar migration background. At later stages of the transition to HE, students who scored high on sense of belonging were more likely to seek help from each other. Our findings underscore the importance of students' background characteristics in the development of friendship and help-seeking networks. Furthermore, we provide first evidence that sense of belonging plays an important role in the formation of peer networks.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1457913
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0182315245;luo01feb.25;2025Jan29.13:04;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0182315245-1">The role of student background characteristics and sense of belonging in the development of peer networks at the transition to higher education </title> <p>At the transition to higher education, students from diverse backgrounds develop peer networks that support learning in higher education. However, few studies have investigated how students' background characteristics play a role in social selection mechanisms such as friendship and help-seeking and what drives the formation of diverse peer networks, including the role of students' sense of belonging in higher education. We studied how students' migration background and generation in higher education-status affect peer network development at the transition to higher education and how sense of belonging plays a role in the development of diverse peer networks. In total, 247 first-year higher education students filled out surveys at three times during the first semester at the transition to higher education. Longitudinal complete social network data on students' friendship and help-seeking relationships in the course programme were analysed using stochastic actor-oriented modelling. At the start of the academic year, continuing-generation in higher education students and students with a strong sense of belonging were more active with building relationships. Students were more likely to connect to others with a similar migration background. At later stages of the transition to HE, students who scored high on sense of belonging were more likely to seek help from each other. Our findings underscore the importance of students' background characteristics in the development of friendship and help-seeking networks. Furthermore, we provide first evidence that sense of belonging plays an important role in the formation of peer networks.</p> <p>Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-2">Introduction</hd> <p>The transition to higher education (HE) is a challenging and influential stage in students' educational pathways (Coertjens et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref1">9</reflink>]). A central aspect of this transition is that new networks of peer relationships emerge within first-year student populations. Across countries, student populations where these networks emerge are increasingly characterized by diversity in terms of first-generation in HE (FGHE) status and migration background (OECD, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref2">34</reflink>]). This is also observed in the Netherlands, where the current study is conducted (Statistics Netherlands, [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref3">44</reflink>]). With FGHE students, we refer to students whose parents did not study in HE (Spiegler & Bednarek, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref4">42</reflink>]). In the Dutch context, students with a migration background are students with at least one of their parents born outside of the Netherlands (Statistics Netherlands, [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref5">44</reflink>]). Both groups are historically underrepresented in HE and face substantial barriers for student success in education, which is for instance reflected in lower achievement and retention rates (OECD, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref6">34</reflink>]).</p> <p>Diversity within student populations plays an important role in emerging peer networks at the transition to HE. Firstly, to enhance equal opportunities for success, HE institutions should provide diverse students with opportunities to build relationships and to become embedded in peer networks in the learning environment. Consistently, studies have shown that both non-academic (e.g., friendships) and academic (e.g., help-seeking) relationships are positive predictors of achievement and retention in HE (Brouwer et al., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref7">5</reflink>]; Stadtfeld et al., [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref8">43</reflink>]). Friendships with peers provide emotional support and social comfort in the learning environment and peers one could approach for academic help are a major source of advice and information (Buote et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref9">7</reflink>]; Mishra, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref10">31</reflink>]). These insights on the importance of peer relationships for student success highlight that examining how student background characteristics affect embeddedness in peer networks is vital for understanding the success of diverse students in HE.</p> <p>Secondly, diversity plays a role in peer networks because diverse student populations provide opportunities for students to connect with dissimilar others, for instance in terms of generation in HE-status (hereafter generation-status) or migration background. A significant body of research has demonstrated positive effects of student population diversity on various outcomes, including critical thinking, perspective taking, and cultural competences (Bowman, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref11">2</reflink>]; de Hei et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref12">14</reflink>]; Mayhew et al., [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref13">26</reflink>]). Learning opportunities from diversity in student populations do however only come about when cross-group relationships are formed (Gurin et al., [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref14">19</reflink>]; Thijs & Verkuyten, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref15">47</reflink>]), for example between students with and without a migration background. These relationships hold the potential to challenge previously held beliefs and positively contribute to cognitive growth and attitudinal change, particularly at the developmental stage of transition (Bowman & Brandenberger, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref16">2</reflink>]; Gurin et al., [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref17">19</reflink>]). Therefore, it is not only important that diverse groups of students become embedded in peer networks, but also that networks do not segregate based on background characteristics.</p> <p>Previous work on peer relationships in HE shows that students from underrepresented backgrounds tend to face difficulties with becoming embedded into peer networks (Ostrove & Long, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref18">35</reflink>]; Özbağcı et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref19">36</reflink>]) and that, regardless of their background, students generally tend to build relationships with similar others, leading to network segregation (Colak et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref20">10</reflink>]; Weber et al., [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref21">52</reflink>]). Provided that these network processes hamper student success and learning from diversity, it is vital to uncover elements that contribute to the development of diverse student networks in HE. In this regard, scholars have pointed to the importance of inclusive learning environments where students experience a sense of belonging (Bowman et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref22">3</reflink>]; Wilson et al., [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref23">54</reflink>]). Being a major driver of individual behaviour in social contexts (Strayhorn, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref24">45</reflink>]), sense of belonging likely plays a role in students' relationship formation and in the stimulation of positive relationships between students from different backgrounds (Bowman et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref25">3</reflink>]; Thijs & Verkuyten, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref26">47</reflink>]). Fostering a sense of belonging among students may be key to enhancing diverse peer relationships and promoting inclusivity in HE. Existing research is however inconclusive about the role of sense of belonging in diverse peer networks. The current study aims to fill this gap by investigating how student background characteristics, being migration background and generation-status, affect the development of both friendship and help-seeking networks, and whether sense of belonging plays a role in these diverse peer networks. We do so while adopting a longitudinal social network approach (Wasserman & Faust, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref27">51</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-3">Literature review</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0182315245-4">Peer network development at the transition to higher education</hd> <p>The transition to HE is a fundamental stage for the emergence and development of peer networks. Research on transition oftentimes applies Nicholson's ([<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref28">33</reflink>]) transition cycle (Coertjens et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref29">9</reflink>]; de Clercq et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref30">13</reflink>]; van Lamoen et al., [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref31">49</reflink>]), which captures the longitudinal dimension of transition by distinguishing four subsequent stages. The <emph>preparation</emph> stage occurs before students' entrance in HE and entails becoming ready for change and acquiring helpful expectations, motives, knowledge, and skills. The <emph>encounter stage</emph> captures students' experiences and sensemaking of their first confrontation with the HE learning environment. Then, in the <emph>adjustment</emph> stage, students actively attempt to cope with the demands of the new learning environment and gradually adjust their attitudes and behaviours to succeed, which occurs approximately until the end of students' first year in HE. Lastly, ideally speaking, adaptation occurs during the <emph>stabilization stage</emph>.</p> <p>The emergence of student peer networks occurs mostly at the encounter and adjustment stages (Brouwer et al., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref32">5</reflink>]; Stadtfeld et al., [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref33">43</reflink>]). At the encounter stage, students meet for the first time with peers and build first relationships. The adjustment stage provides opportunities to deepen these relationships (van Duijn et al., [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref34">48</reflink>]; Willems et al., [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref35">55</reflink>]). It is therefore essential to study the emergence and development of diverse peer networks in HE at the encounter and adjustment stage of the transition to HE. At these stages, various processes play a role in the development of peer networks, including the extent to which diverse students become embedded in friendship networks and help-seeking networks, and the extent to which these networks segregate based on student background characteristics.</p> <p>Embeddedness, referring to the number of ties of a student in the peer network, can result from both students' activity and popularity within the network (Wasserman & Faust, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref36">51</reflink>]). Activity indicates the extent to which students actively seek out and engage in interactions with their peers. Popularity indicates the degree to which students are sought out by others for friendship and help. Activity and popularity are both individual-level network phenomena. Prior research has shown that students with higher academic achievement are for instance more active with befriending peers and asking for help (Brouwer et al., [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref37">6</reflink>] Brouwer & Engels, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref38">5</reflink>]) and that students who are perceived as clever are more popular to ask for advice (Lomi et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref39">24</reflink>]; Stadtfeld et al., [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref40">43</reflink>]).</p> <p>Segregation refers to a network-level phenomenon whereby relations between similar dyads (e.g., two students with both a non-migration background) are more likely than relations between dissimilar dyads (Wasserman & Faust, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref41">51</reflink>]). An important driver behind segregation is homophily, which is the tendency of individuals to connect to similar others (McPherson et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref42">28</reflink>]; Tajfel, [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref43">46</reflink>]), such as based on gender (Weber et al., [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref44">52</reflink>]). Individuals have the tendency to connect with similar others because, on average, those who are similar understand each other better, communicate with less effort, and find each other more trustworthy and predictable. This, taken together, makes these relationships more comforting, stable, and less prone to conflict (McPherson et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref45">28</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-5">The role of student background characteristics in peer networks</hd> <p>Prior research indicated that individuals' underrepresented backgrounds in specific social contexts play a role in the emergence and development of their social connections (McFarland et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref46">27</reflink>]). In line with this, research and theory suggest that students' generation-status and migration background may affect embeddedness in peer networks and play a role in segregation of these networks (Colak et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref47">11</reflink>]; Rubin, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref48">40</reflink>]). We specifically focus on generation-status and migration background in this study as prior research has shown that FGHE-students and students with a migration background are less academically successful in terms of grades and retention (OECD, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref49">34</reflink>]) and because these students tend to face more difficulties at the transition to HE (Coertjens et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref50">9</reflink>]; Mishra, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref51">31</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-6">Underrepresented students' network embeddedness</hd> <p>Regarding embeddedness, social and cultural capital theory suggest that FGHE-students experience more adjustment difficulties at the transition to HE, due to less familiarity with the middle-class norms and culture on campuses (Ostrove & Long, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref52">35</reflink>]; Spiegler & Bednarek, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref53">42</reflink>]). These difficulties include social adjustment in the HE learning environment. In line with this theoretical expectation, Grayson ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref54">17</reflink>]) and Özbağcı et al. ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref55">36</reflink>]) found that FGHE-students reported fewer on-campus friendships than their continuing-generation in HE (CGHE) peers. These results thus indicate lower embeddedness among FGHE-students due to lowered activity in the friendship networks. Other studies did not find differences between FGHE- and CGHE-students however (Álvarez-Rivadulla et al., [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref56">1</reflink>]; Wittner et al., [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref57">58</reflink>]). These mixed findings align with Rubin's ([<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref58">40</reflink>]) meta-analysis on FGHE-students' social integration. From this meta-analysis, Rubin ([<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref59">40</reflink>]) suggested an effect of time, in the sense that generation-status based differences in network embeddedness are most pronounced at the encounter stage of the transition to HE, when students have their first confrontation with the HE norms and culture.</p> <p>For underrepresented students with a migration background, experiences of exclusion and discrimination in educational contexts may play a negative role in peer network embeddedness (Colak et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref60">11</reflink>]; Mishra, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref61">31</reflink>]). These experiences lead to less possibilities for and lower orientation to relationship building among the excluded individuals (Reynolds, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref62">38</reflink>]). Exclusion could also more directly lead to lower embeddedness, if students with migration backgrounds are considered less popular to ask for help due to pervasive stereotypes of these students as less academically capable (Green et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref63">18</reflink>]). This would imply that students with a migration background are less often asked for help compared to their peers without a migration background and thus become less embedded in peer networks.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-7">Segregation based on generation-status and migration background</hd> <p>Homophily based on migration background is well-established in the literature (Colak et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref64">10</reflink>]; Wimmer & Lewis, [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref65">57</reflink>]). In a qualitative study of HE students with a Turkish background in Belgium, Colak et al. ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref66">10</reflink>]) found that these students preferred friends with similar migration backgrounds, due to higher levels of familiarity and a common understanding. This allowed for deeper and more meaningful relationships than with students from Belgian origin. Most social network studies on segregation by migration background in HE have addressed this phenomenon in friendship networks (Wimmer & Lewis, [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref67">57</reflink>]; Zhou et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref68">60</reflink>]). However, Weber et al. ([<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref69">52</reflink>]) found that HE students tend to prefer not only befriending but also collaborating with peers who share similar migration backgrounds. Help-seeking networks share important characteristics with collaboration networks, in the sense that both relationship types are characterized as study-related, task dependent, and as strongly related to academic success (Brouwer et al., [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref70">6</reflink>]). From this, it may be expected that a tendency for migration-background homophily is also present in help-seeking networks.</p> <p>The aforementioned study of Weber et al. ([<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref71">52</reflink>]) showed that, in addition to preferred similarity in migration background, students have a preference to collaborate with peers with similarly educated parents. Other studies found evidence for the tendency of people with similar socioeconomic backgrounds to connect, albeit with small magnitude (Chabot, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref72">8</reflink>]; McFarland et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref73">27</reflink>]). One main reason for this smaller homophily effect, is that one's socioeconomic status is often less visible than migration background, as individuals with migration backgrounds often also belong to ethnic minority groups. Homophily effects are known to be stronger on visible dimensions (McPherson et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref74">28</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-8">The role of sense of belonging in peer networks</hd> <p>To facilitate the emergence and development of diverse peer networks in HE and overcome the tendency of students to connect to similar others, it is important to create inclusive learning environments where all students experience a sense of belonging (Bowman et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref75">3</reflink>]; Thijs & Verkuyten, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref76">47</reflink>]). Sense of belonging refers to a feeling of connectedness with the HE community, that one is accepted by members of that community, and that one fits in (Dias-Broens et al., [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref77">15</reflink>]; Hurtado & Carter, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref78">21</reflink>]; Walton et al., [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref79">50</reflink>]). Belonging can be conceived of as a cognitive evaluation of one's place in a social environment that leads to attitudinal and behavioural responses (Strayhorn, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref80">45</reflink>]). This may include the initiation of relationships with peers (Walton et al., [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref81">50</reflink>]; Wilson et al., [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref82">54</reflink>]). Students who enter the new learning environment with a higher sense of belonging might be more active with forming friendships and asking for help and they may have an easier time with building peer relationships. In a study among college students, Won et al. ([<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref83">56</reflink>]) for instance found that students with a higher sense of belonging reported more use of adaptive help-seeking strategies. From this, it can be expected that students with more sense of belonging are more active with befriending peers and asking for help and thus become more embedded in both types of networks.</p> <p>Besides enhancing students' general network embeddedness, sense of belonging might be particularly important to enhance underrepresented students' embeddedness in peer networks and to facilitate the development of diverse networks. Traditionally, sense of belonging has mainly been studied in an effort to deepen our understanding of underrepresented students' experiences in HE (Hurtado & Carter, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref84">21</reflink>]; Strayhorn, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref85">45</reflink>]). This research not only shows that underrepresented students tend to have lower mean levels of sense of belonging (Spiegler & Bednarek, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref86">42</reflink>]), but also that these students experience stronger positive effects of sense of belonging in HE on academic achievement and engagement (Gillen-O'Neel, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref87">16</reflink>]; Pitman & Richmond, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref88">37</reflink>]). Similarly, negative effects of students' generation-status or migration background on network embeddedness may be dampened when these students experience a sense of belonging in the learning environment. Moreover, sense of belonging might enhance diverse networks and prevent segregation, as a strong sense of belonging enhances the extent to which students feel related to their peers who are present in the classroom, possibly with dissimilar backgrounds, and may enhance students' inclinations to relate with these students (Bowman et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref89">3</reflink>]; Thijs & Verkuyten, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref90">47</reflink>]). In other words, background-related homophily effects in the friendship and help-seeking networks may be less strong among students who experience a strong sense of belonging.</p> <p>Research on the relationship between sense of belonging and peer relationships seldomly adopts a longitudinal social network approach. To investigate the role of belonging in peer networks, it is however necessary to separate students' subjective belonging in the social environment, measured by self-reports, from the objective relationships between individuals, best measured by sociometric instruments (Kreutzmann et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref91">23</reflink>]; Zander et al., [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref92">59</reflink>]). Furthermore, a longitudinal social network approach allows to investigate how sense of belonging explains observed network change net of other effects of network processes in the model (Snijders et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref93">41</reflink>]). This is important while studying whether sense of belonging affects peer network development instead of the other way around.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-9">The current study</hd> <p>In sum, the transition to HE is a crucial phase in peer network development in the HE learning environment. Literature highlights a diversity of backgrounds of first-year students and the potential impact of this diversity on peer networks. However, only limited research has addressed how background characteristics influence the unfolding of peer networks over time by using a social network approach (Mayer & Puller, [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref94">25</reflink>]; Weber et al., [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref95">52</reflink>]; Wimmer & Lewis, [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref96">57</reflink>]). As these studies primarily focus on homophily in friendship networks, insights on underrepresented students' embeddedness in networks and development of help-seeking networks is particularly lacking. Moreover, there is a general gap in the literature on investigating sense of belonging from a social network perspective. To further understanding of sense of belonging and its' role in the development of diverse peer networks, it is crucial to utilize sociometric measures of peer connections (Kreutzmann et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref97">23</reflink>]).</p> <p>A better understanding of the impact of student background characteristics and sense of belonging on network formation is direly needed to enable HE institutions to better facilitate a successful transition into HE for all students and to let students fully benefit from learning and developing in diverse educational classrooms. In our study we therefore address the questions whether generation-status, migration background and sense of belonging affect students' embeddedness in friendship and help-seeking networks over time (RQ1), and whether these peer networks segregate along the lines of students' generation-status, migration background and sense of belonging due to a preference of students to connect with similar others on these dimensions (RQ2).</p> <p>We studied these questions in the context of the transition to HE and by analysing longitudinal social network data to measure perceptions of the relationships among all first-year students enrolled in a Psychology programme in the Netherlands simultaneously over time. These network data are analysed with stochastic actor-oriented models (Snijders et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref98">41</reflink>]), which allow to distinguish simultaneous dynamics of network formation and their relationship to student characteristics.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-10">Method</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0182315245-11">Sample and procedure</hd> <p>Data were collected during the academic year 2022–2023 among first-year students at an undergraduate Psychology programme of a research university in an urban area of the Netherlands. The course programme is offered in a student-centred small group learning environment based on principles of problem-based learning (Wijnia et al., [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref99">53</reflink>]). The academic year is divided into eight periods of each five weeks. Students met twice a week in small tutorial groups together with 12–20 students and a tutor who guided the group and facilitated group discussions. In total, 247 first-year students participated across three waves of data collection. The response rate was high (88%; 81%; 88%), with 23 students not responding across the three waves and 7 students dropping out of the programme after the second wave. Background characteristics of participants are presented in Table 1.</p> <p>Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the demographic characteristics</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left"><p>Demographic characteristics</p></th><th align="left"><p>Category</p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>N</italic> (%)</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left" rowspan="2"><p>Gender</p></td><td align="left"><p>Male</p></td><td align="left"><p>47 (19.0%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Female</p></td><td align="left"><p>200 (81.0%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" rowspan="2"><p>Generation-status</p></td><td align="left"><p>Continuing-generation in HE student</p></td><td align="left"><p>158 (64.0%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>First-generation in HE student</p></td><td align="left"><p>89 (36.0%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" rowspan="3"><p>Migration background</p></td><td align="left"><p>None</p></td><td align="left"><p>169 (68.4%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Western migrant background</p></td><td align="left"><p>20 (8.1%)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Non-Western migrant background</p></td><td align="left"><p>58 (23.5%)</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Total <emph>N</emph> = 247. Students were on average 19.96 years old (<emph>SD</emph> = 2.52)</p> <p>Individual-level data (i.e., background data and sense of belonging) and relational-level data (i.e., nominations of friendship and help-seeking relations) were collected via surveys. We conducted these surveys across three timepoints: at the start of the academic year (the encounter stage) in September (T1), the early adjustment stage in November (T2), and in the late adjustment stage at the end of the first semester in January (T3). Before students filled out the surveys, we explained the study's aims and procedures (e.g., anonymous data storage, ethical guidelines) and that participation was voluntary. Through student identification numbers, survey data were linked to the university's education research database, including data on demographics (e.g., generation-status, migration background, gender) and course grades. All participants gave active informed consent for using their data and ethical approval was granted by the university's ethical committee for this procedure (reference number: 2223-0646).</p> <p>For the two network questions in this study, students could nominate any peer enrolled in the same Psychology cohort. To do so, students firstly entered their student number, after which a complete list of peers enrolled in the same tutorial group was presented. Additionally, students could nominate ten other peers from the Psychology programme. They did so in response to a question asking with whom the students had regular contact (e.g., activities, talking) in the past three weeks, besides students from their tutorial group. Students were supported with this free recall method as names of peers popped up automatically when they typed a part of the name of their peer.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-12">Measures</hd> <p> <emph>Friendship and help-seeking networks</emph>. In all waves, sociocentric data were collected through nomination questions. For the friendship network, students were asked to nominate peers from their course programme who they consider friends. For the help-seeking network, students were asked to nominate peers they go to for academic related advice and support. Friendship and help-seeking relations were measured as dichotomous variables (0 = "not a friend"; 1 = "friend" and 0 = "no help-seeking relation"; 1 = "help-seeking relation"). Hence, network data with values 0 indicated an absent tie/relationship and values 1 indicated a present tie/relationship. This dichotomous format facilitated longitudinal network analysis with package RSiena (see analytical strategy; Ripley et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref100">39</reflink>]).</p> <p> <emph>Sense of belonging</emph>. A six-item scale, derived from Meeuwisse et al. ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref101">29</reflink>]), was used to measure sense of belonging. For our study we adapted items to reflect sense of belonging in the Psychology course programme. Example items are 'I enjoy the atmosphere at this course programme' and 'I am different in comparison with other students in this course programme'. Cronbach's alpha's indicated sufficient reliability at all waves of data collection (α<subs>T1</subs> = 0.71; α<subs>T2</subs> = 0.78; α<subs>T3</subs> = 0.77).</p> <p> <emph>Generation in HE-status</emph>. Survey questions asked students whether their parents studied at a research university or at a university of applied sciences. Students of which neither of the parents studied at these educational levels (i.e., ISCED 2011-level 6 or lower) were defined as FGHE-students (Spiegler & Bednarek, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref102">42</reflink>]). Generation-status was a dichotomous variable with value 0 for CGHE-students and value 1 for FGHE-students.</p> <p> <emph>Migration background</emph>. Students' migration background was retrieved from the university's educational research database, which includes information on students' migration background according to the traditional definition of Statistics Netherlands ([<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref103">44</reflink>]), which makes a three-category distinction between "no migration background", "non-Western migration background", and "Western migration background". Students were categorised as having a migration background if they migrated themselves or if at least one of their parents migrated to the Netherlands.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-13">Analytical strategy</hd> <p>To capture the dynamic, longitudinal, and interdependent nature of network development, we used stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOM) with the R-package Siena (Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analysis; Ripley et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref104">39</reflink>]; Snijders et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref105">41</reflink>]). SAOMs enable simultaneous analysis of network change and influence of actor attributes, such as generation-status, migration background, and sense of belonging. Conventional statistical models, including linear regression models, are not fitted to analyse social networks, because of their assumption of independent observation, which is per definition violated in analyses of networks. Instead, the relations between actors are precisely of interest while analysing social networks. SAOMs allow to take interdependencies into account. It does so by, for instance, modelling that students are likely to provide help to peers who provided help to them before (i.e., reciprocity). In SAOMs, discrete measurement points are used (in our case T1, T2, T3), but an underlying continuous dynamic process of relational change is assumed, because of network structures, actor effects, and dyadic effects (Snijders et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref106">41</reflink>]). The estimates of parameters in the models are log-odds of particular relationship tendencies. When these estimates are positive, it means that students are likely to pursue a particular network state (e.g., reciprocating a friendship). If the estimates are negative, it means that students tend to avoid these states.</p> <p>For both friendship and help-seeking networks, two selection models were specified to capture network development at various stages of the transition, from T1 to T2 and from T2 to T3. In each model, we included the rate parameter, which modelled how often students changed one of their relationships. Furthermore, several common structural network effects were included in the models. These include (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref107">1</reflink>) the <emph>outdegree effect</emph>: the basic tendency to form a relationship; (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref108">2</reflink>) <emph>reciprocity</emph>: the extent to which forming a reciprocated tie is more likely than a non-reciprocated tie; (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref109">3</reflink>) <emph>transitivity</emph>: the tendency to prefer relationships with peers who already have a relationship with a current relationships, i.e., to form transitive triplets; (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref110">4</reflink>) <emph>transitive reciprocal triples</emph>: the tendency to reciprocate relationships within transitive triplets; (<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref111">5</reflink>) <emph>indegree popularity</emph>: the tendency that students receive more nominations over time if they already received more nominations previously; (<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref112">6</reflink>) <emph>outdegree activity</emph>: the tendency to nominate more over time if students already nominated more others previously, and (<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref113">7</reflink>) <emph>indegree activity</emph>: the tendency to connect more to others if students have more incoming connections.</p> <p>Next, to analyse the role of generation-status and migration background, we estimated whether these characteristics influence the likelihood of nominating others (<emph>migration background ego</emph> and <emph>generation-status ego</emph>), the likelihood of receiving nominations (<emph>migration background alter</emph> and <emph>generation-status alter</emph>), or the likelihood to nominate others with the same background characteristic (<emph>same migration background</emph> or <emph>same generation-status</emph>). To analyse the role of sense of belonging, we included parameters to test whether students with a higher sense of belonging were more likely to nominate peers (<emph>sense of belonging ego</emph>), whether students with a higher sense of belonging tended to receive more nominations (<emph>sense of belonging alter</emph>), and whether students related based on similar levels of sense of belonging (<emph>similar sense of belonging</emph>). Further, we estimated interaction effects between <emph>sense of belonging ego</emph>*<emph>migration background ego</emph> and <emph>sense of belonging ego</emph>*<emph>generation-status ego</emph> and <emph>belonging ego</emph>*<emph>same migration background</emph> and <emph>sense of belonging</emph>*<emph>generation-status</emph>. The first two interactions test whether sense of belonging moderates effects of the background variables on sent nominations. The last two interaction effects test whether sense of belonging moderates students' tendencies to connect to similar others.</p> <p>Besides generation-status, migration background, and sense of belonging, we included several control variables which are well-known and important drivers of peer network development (Brouwer et al., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref114">5</reflink>]; Stadtfeld et al., [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref115">43</reflink>]). These include students' gender (<emph>gender ego</emph>, <emph>gender alter</emph>, <emph>same gender</emph>), grades (<emph>grades ego</emph>, <emph>grades alter</emph>, <emph>similar grades</emph>), and tutorial group (<emph>same group</emph>).</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-14">Results</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0182315245-15">Descriptive analysis</hd> <p>Table 2 provides descriptive statistics for the peer networks at three timepoints. The average degree indicates that students nominated approximately two friends at all three timepoints. The average number of help-seeking nominations was four, which decreased towards the end of the semester (T3) to an average of two. Figures 1 and 2 show average outdegrees (i.e., sent nominations) for FGHE-students compared to CGHE-students and for students from the different migrant background groups. Particularly notable here are the outdegree differences at T2, which show that FGHE-students and students with a non-Western migration background had somewhat less friendship relationships in the course programme at this timepoint in November.</p> <p>Table 2 Descriptive networks statistics of friendship and help-seeking networks</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" rowspan="2" /><th align="left" colspan="3"><p>Friendship networks</p></th><th align="left" colspan="3"><p>Help-seeking networks</p></th></tr><tr><th align="left"><p>T1</p></th><th align="left"><p>T2</p></th><th align="left"><p>T3</p></th><th align="left"><p>T1</p></th><th align="left"><p>T2</p></th><th align="left"><p>T3</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left" colspan="7"><p>Networks statistics</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> M degree</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.98</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.84</p></td><td align="left"><p>4.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.45</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.29</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> SD indegree</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.56</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.81</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.54</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.46</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.95</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.90</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> SD outdegree</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.32</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.33</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.92</p></td><td align="left"><p>3.82</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.33</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.08</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="7"><p><italic>Whole study programme</italic></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Density (%)</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.92</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.00</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.05</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.89</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.00</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.84</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Reciprocity (%)</p></td><td align="left"><p>43.41</p></td><td align="left"><p>47.78</p></td><td align="left"><p>52.90</p></td><td align="left"><p>43.64</p></td><td align="left"><p>45.10</p></td><td align="left"><p>49.00</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="7"><p><italic>Within tutorial groups</italic></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Density (%)</p></td><td align="left"><p>9.83</p></td><td align="left"><p>8.26</p></td><td align="left"><p>7.86</p></td><td align="left"><p>30.84</p></td><td align="left"><p>13.16</p></td><td align="left"><p>11.07</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Reciprocity (%)</p></td><td align="left"><p>51.95</p></td><td align="left"><p>47.55</p></td><td align="left"><p>55.55</p></td><td align="left"><p>48.85</p></td><td align="left"><p>49.97</p></td><td align="left"><p>60.83</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="7"><p>Segregation (NACs)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Generation-status</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.10</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.13</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Migration background</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.11</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.13</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.10</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Sense of belonging</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.02</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.09</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.15</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="7"><p>Change in relationships</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> Jaccard index (stability)</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.381</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.461</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>0.294</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.441</p></td><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> No. of ties dissolved</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>216</p></td><td align="left"><p>197</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>637</p></td><td align="left"><p>246</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> No. of ties emerged</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>225</p></td><td align="left"><p>154</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>239</p></td><td align="left"><p>208</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p> No. of ties maintained</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>272</p></td><td align="left"><p>300</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>365</p></td><td align="left"><p>358</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>NACs range 0 (no segregation) to 1 (complete segregation)</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 1 Mean outdegrees across waves by generation in HE-status</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 2 Mean outdegree across waves by migration background</p> <p>Density refers to the proportion of possible directed relationships that form actual relationships and was calculated by dividing the number of actual nominations by all possible nominations in the network (Wasserman & Faust, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref116">51</reflink>]). This was calculated within the first-year complete course programme and in the tutorial groups. Within the complete first-year course programme, only a small percentage of the possible relationships were actual relationships. For friendship, density increased from 0.92% at T1 to 1.05% at T3. For the help-seeking networks, density decreased from 1.89% to 0.84%. Density percentages within tutorial groups were higher, indicating that most relationships were built within tutorial groups. The help-seeking T1 network is particularly notable for its high density of 30.84% within tutorial groups. Between 43.41% and 52.90% of friendship relations and 43.94% and 49.00% of help-seeking relations were reciprocated within the course programme. Reciprocity percentages were similar within tutorial groups. The percentage of reciprocated relationships increased across the first semester in the networks.</p> <p>Table 2 further presents Newman's Assortativity Coefficients (NACs), which provide information about segregation in the networks based on generation-status, migration background, and sense of belonging (Newman, [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref117">32</reflink>]). NACs have a value 0 when the number of in-group relationships between similar students on the three variables are equal to the number of in-group relationships that would be expected by chance. NACs have a value of 1 when all relationships are formed between similar individuals, meaning complete segregation. The NACs in Table 2 thus indicate some segregation in the peer networks along the lines of generation-status, migration background, and sense of belonging, albeit NACs are generally low. Segregation based on generation-status and sense of belonging was somewhat more attenuated in the help-seeking network and increased over time. Segregation based on migration background was stronger in the friendship network.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-16">Longitudinal social network analysis</hd> <p>SAOM results are presented in Table 3. First, we will discuss structural effects that represent typically observed social mechanisms, and that should be accounted for in social network analysis. Then, we will address the results relating to our research questions on diverse students' embeddedness in and segregation of peer networks.</p> <p>Table 3 SAOM results on the effects of background characteristics and sense of belonging in friendship and help-seeking networks</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" rowspan="3" /><th align="left" colspan="4"><p>Friendship network</p></th><th align="left" colspan="4"><p>Help-seeking network</p></th></tr><tr><th align="left" colspan="2"><p>T1–T2</p></th><th align="left" colspan="2"><p>T2–T3</p></th><th align="left" colspan="2"><p>T1–T2</p></th><th align="left" colspan="2"><p>T2–T3</p></th></tr><tr><th align="left"><p>Est</p></th><th align="left"><p>(SE)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Est</p></th><th align="left"><p>(SE)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Est</p></th><th align="left"><p>(SE)</p></th><th align="left"><p>Est</p></th><th align="left"><p>(SE)</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>Rate parameter</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.66</p></td><td align="left"><p>(1.80)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>5.31</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.57)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>9.23</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.66)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.22</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.52)***</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Outdegree</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 4.20</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.41)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 5.48</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.43)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 3.68</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.42)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 3.82</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.33)***</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Reciprocity</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.51</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.92)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>3.11</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.51)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>3.56</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.34)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>3.44</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.42)***</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Transitive triplets</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.74</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.42)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.28</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.22)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.90</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.14)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.75</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.14)***</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Trans. recip. triplets</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 1.36</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.27)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.96</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.32)**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.57</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.27)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.43</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.20)*</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Indegree popularity</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.02</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.05)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.06)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.03)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.03</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.04)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Outdegree activity</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.13</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.07)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.03)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.02</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.02)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.09</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.03)**</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Indegree activity</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.73</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.55)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.38</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.18)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.51</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.13)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.47</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.14)***</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Help-seeking</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.86</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.40)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>5.17</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.44)***</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Friendship</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char"><p>2.82</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.25)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.78</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.22)***</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Gender ego (female)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.54</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.39)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 1.46</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.36)***</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.72</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.33)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.25)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Gender alter (female)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.09</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.23)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.24)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.25</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.27)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.15</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.23)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Same gender</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.33</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.31)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.38</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.21)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.35</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.24)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.23)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Grade ego</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.05</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.09)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.14</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.14)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.00</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.09)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.09)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Grade alter</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.11</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.11)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.10</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.10)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.11</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.06)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.10</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.08)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Similar grade</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.22</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.07)**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.11)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.06)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.20</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.09)*</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Same group</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.20</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.23)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.75</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.31)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.28</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.19)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.94</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.17)***</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Gen-stat. ego (FGHE)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.41</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.18)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.39</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.26)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.30</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.18)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.16)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Gen-stat. alter (FGHE)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.14</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.16)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.09</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.21)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.10</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.14)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.15)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Same gen-status</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.02</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.15)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.05</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.17)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.02</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.13)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.21</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.13)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Mig. backgr. ego (NW)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.14</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.19)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.28</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.32)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.17)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.20)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Mig. backgr. alter (NW)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.29</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.28)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.33</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.25)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.26</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.15)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.17)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Mig. backgr. ego (W)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.84</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.63)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.99</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.47)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.34)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.22</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.34)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Mig. backgr. alter (W)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.21</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.33)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.17</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.27)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.54</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.22)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.16</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.24)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Same mig. backgr</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.42</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.20)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.19</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.23)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.45</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.14)**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.00</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.18)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Belonging ego</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.49</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.23)*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.30</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.32)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.45</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.17)**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.16</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.19)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Belonging alter</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.16)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.16</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.22)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.14)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.33</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.16)*</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Similar belonging</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.29)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.37)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.25)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.77</p></td><td align="left"><p>(0.29)**</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Convergence t-ratio's all < 0.09; overall maximum convergence ratio all < 0.25 <sups>***</sups><emph>p</emph> <.001; **<emph>p</emph> <.01; *<emph>p</emph> <.05</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-17">Structural network effects</hd> <p>Negative and significant <emph>outdegree</emph> parameters in all models in Table 3 mean that students were selective in their nominations and only tended to nominate others if they perceived attractive properties of relationships. The positive <emph>reciprocity</emph> and <emph>transitive triplets</emph> effects are significant (see Table 3), which means that it is more likely that students reciprocated relationships and tended to cluster in groups. Negative effects of <emph>transitive reciprocated triplets</emph> imply that reciprocation was less likely within groups; an effect that was somewhat more attenuated in the friendship networks (T1–T2: Est. = − 1.36, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001; T2–T3: Est. = − 0.96, <emph>p</emph> < 0.01) than in the help-seeking networks (T1–T2: Est. = − 0.57, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05; T2–T3: Est. = − 0.43, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05). The models further indicate that students who were popular as helpers at T1 became even more popular in the period T1–T2 (<emph>indegree popularity</emph>, Est. = 0.07, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05) and that, at T2–T3, students tended to give more nominations over time if they previously nominated others more often in the friendship (<emph>outdegree activity</emph>, Est. = 0.12, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001) and help-seeking network (Est<emph>.</emph> = 0.09, <emph>p</emph> < 0.01). Lastly, the negative effects of <emph>indegree activity</emph> in the T2–T3 friendship network (Est. = − 0.38, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05) and both help-seeking networks (T1–T2: Est. = − 0.51, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001; T2–T3: Est. = − 0.47, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001) show a tendency among popular students to be less active in approaching others for friendships or help.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-18">Embeddedness in peer networks</hd> <p>We found a significant effect for <emph>generation-status ego</emph> in the T1–T2 model for friendship, indicating that FGHE-students were less likely to establish friendships compared to CGHE-students (Est. = − 0.41, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05). This effect was not indicated by the T2–T3 model (Est. = − 0.39, <emph>p</emph> = 0.142), implying that FGHE-students only showed lowered activity to develop friendships early during transition to HE, although these effects are rather small. No further effects of generation-status on network embeddedness were found.</p> <p>For migration background, the models only indicated embeddedness-related effects for a Western migration background. We found a significant negative effect of <emph>migration background ego </emph>(<emph>W</emph>) in the T2–T3 friendship model, implying that students with a Western migration background were less likely to befriend others, compared to no-migration background students (Est. = − 0.99, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05). Conversely, the significant positive <emph>migration background alter </emph>(<emph>W</emph>) effect in the T1–T2 help-seeking model means that students with a Western migration background were more likely to be approached for help (Est. = 0.55, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05). The models showed no effects of having a non-Western migration background on the number of friendship or help-seeking nominations sent, <emph>Migration background ego (NW)</emph>, or received, <emph>Migration background alter </emph>(<emph>NW</emph>).</p> <p>The models further revealed that the more students felt a sense of belonging in the course programme at T1, the more likely they were to befriend peers (<emph>belonging ego</emph>, Est. = 0.49, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05) and ask for help (<emph>belonging ego</emph>, Est. = 0.45, <emph>p</emph> < 0.01). Interestingly, the significant positive <emph>belonging ego</emph> effects disappeared at T2–T3 in both the friendship (Est. = 0.30, <emph>p</emph> = 0.198) and help-seeking (Est. = 0.16, <emph>p</emph> = 0.393) networks: sense of belonging thus only mattered for students' activity in the peer networks at the start of the academic year.</p> <p>Turning to the cross-network effects and control variables, the results showed that when students asked each other for help, it was more likely that they became friends over time (<emph>help-seeking</emph>, T1–T2: Est. = 1.86, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001; T2–T3: Est. = 5.17, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001), and the other way around (<emph>friendship</emph>, T1–T2: Est. = 2.82, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001; T2–T3: Est. = 1.78, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001). Female students were less likely to befriend others at T2–T3 (<emph>gender ego</emph>, Est. = − 1.46, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001), but were somewhat more likely to ask others for help at T1–T2 (<emph>gender ego</emph>, Est. = 0.72, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05).</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-19">Segregation of peer networks</hd> <p>We found significant positive effects of <emph>same migration background</emph> in the T1–T2 models for friendship (Est. = 0.42, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05) and help-seeking (Est. = 0.45, <emph>p</emph> < 0.01): students had the tendency to befriend or ask help from students with a similar migration background. These effects disappeared in the T2–T3 friendship (Est. = 0.19, <emph>p</emph> = 0.407) and help-seeking (Est. = − 0.001, <emph>p</emph> = 0.998) models, indicating that migration background similarity only played a role in peer selection at the start of the academic year, and not in the initiation of relationships later at the transition. For sense of belonging, the models indicated that help-seeking relationships between students were more likely when students had similar levels of belongingness (<emph>similar belonging</emph>, Est. = 0.77, <emph>p</emph> < 0.01). This effect was only present in the T2–T3 model, however, suggesting that homophily preference only appeared in a later stage of the transition. No homophily effects were found for generation-status.</p> <p>Lastly, our control variables show that students preferred to befriend and ask help to students with a similar academic achievement level (<emph>similar grades</emph>). Further, the effects of <emph>same group</emph> indicate preference based on tutorial group (i.e., proximity): at T2–T3, students were less likely to befriend students within their group (<emph>same group</emph>, Est. = − 0.75, <emph>p</emph> < 0.05), but were more likely to ask help to students within their group (<emph>same group</emph>, Est. = 0.94, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001).</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-20">Sense of belonging moderation effects</hd> <p>Besides the main effects of sense of belonging, we investigated whether sense of belonging moderated the relationship between student-background factors and network formation. Specifically, we examined whether sense of belonging moderated <emph>generation-status ego</emph> and <emph>migration background ego</emph> effects, and <emph>same generation-status</emph> and <emph>same migration background</emph> effects. These effects were neither significant in friendship and help-seeking models, nor for generation-status or migration background. This implies that the negative main effect of FGHE-status on the likelihood to befriend others is not weaker (or stronger) when students feel a strong sense of belonging, and that a strong sense of belonging does not heighten (or weaken) the tendency to build cross-group relationships. As including the interaction terms complicated our models and led to undesirable model fit indices, we reported the models for friendship and help-seeking without interaction effect.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-21">Discussion and conclusion</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0182315245-22">Discussion</hd> <p>To enhance all students' success at the transition to HE and allow students to learn from diversity within student populations, it is important that diverse students become embedded in emerging peer networks at the transition to HE and that these networks are diverse in terms of student backgrounds. Small-group education and inclusive learning environments, where all students experience a sense of belonging, are proposed as facilitators for the emergence of diverse peer networks in HE (Thijs & Verkuyten, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref118">47</reflink>]). The present study contributes to our understanding of the role of student background characteristics and sense of belonging in network formation by longitudinally investigating the formation of friendship and help-seeking networks at the transition to HE.</p> <p>First, regarding students' embeddedness in friendship and help-seeking networks (RQ1), we found that FGHE-students are less active with befriending their peers at the encounter stage of the transition to HE, but not at later timepoints at the transition. Migration background does not affect embeddedness in peer networks. Sense of belonging enhances students' activity with befriending peers and asking for help at the encounter stage, and students with higher sense of belonging are also more often approached for help by their peers. These effects imply greater embeddedness in peer networks for students with a higher sense of belonging. A higher sense of belonging however does not weaken the lesser activity with befriending peers among FGHE-students (i.e., no moderation). Second, regarding network segregation (RQ2), we found a tendency among students to befriend and ask help to peers with a similar migration background. Students with no migration background thus have a heightened tendency to connect to peers who also have no migration background and students with a migration background more often connect to peers who also have a migration background. Again, our results showed no moderation effects: students with a stronger sense of belonging do not have a weaker (or stronger) tendency to connect with similar migration background peers. Sense of belonging does however play a role in the selection of helpers by itself: students tend to ask help of peers with a similar sense of belonging, implying some segregation based on sense of belonging.</p> <p>The lower tendency among FGHE-students to befriend peers corresponds to social and cultural capital theory and research indicating that FGHE-students report fewer friendships in HE (Grayson, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref119">17</reflink>]; Özbağcı et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref120">36</reflink>]). This effect only occurred at the encounter stage and was not present at later moments. In line with this, prior studies show that FGHE students particularly experience stress while establishing first contacts when they first enter the HE learning environment. This stress is somewhat reduced after establishing first contacts which support further social adjustment in the HE learning environment (Willems et al., [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref121">55</reflink>]). Following previous work (Milem & Berger, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref122">30</reflink>]; Rubin, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref123">40</reflink>]), this suggests that FGHE-students become more familiar and comfortable with the norms and culture in HE over time, supported by their initial contacts, which positively affects orientation towards further relationship building.</p> <p>The homophily tendency among students to connect to peers with a similar migration background is also a relatively common finding in research (Colak et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref124">10</reflink>]; Weber et al., [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref125">52</reflink>]; Wimmer & Lewis, [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref126">57</reflink>]). Our findings add to this research, by showing that students not only prefer to befriend peers with similar migration background but also prefer to ask help to these peers. An important note is however that for both background characteristics generation-status and migration background the effects in the networks are limited. Over time, FGHE-students become equally embedded in peer networks as compared to CGHE-students and the migration background-related homophily effect only leads to limited segregation in the networks.</p> <p>Research suggests that small-group learning environments contribute to the development of diverse peer networks in HE (Brouwer et al., [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref127">6</reflink>]; Thijs & Verkuyten, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref128">47</reflink>]). This may also explain the limited background-related effects in our study. The small-group problem-based learning environment where our study was conducted may facilitate diverse peer networks, as these small groups provide a safe environment in which students can easily connect to peers, including peers with dissimilar backgrounds (Brouwer et al., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref129">5</reflink>]; Wijnia et al., [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref130">53</reflink>]). Yet, our results on belongingness in peer networks show that small group education is not sufficient for all students to become embedded in diverse peer networks. Students with lower sense of belonging seem to have more difficulties with building supportive peer relationships and are less often approached for help. Moreover, students' tendency to ask help from peers with similar sense of belonging points to a role of belongingness in network segregation. These findings correspond to earlier studies conducted in HE learning communities showing that students tend to connect with similarly achieving peers and that higher achieving students become more embedded in peer networks compared to lower achieving students (Brouwer et al., [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref131">6</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref132">5</reflink>]).</p> <p>By showing empirical evidence on the role of sense of belonging in the development of peer networks in HE, our study makes a significant theoretical contribution to the literature on belonging in education. The higher activity in peer networks among students with a stronger sense of belonging supports theoretical expectations of belonging as a driver of social behaviour (Strayhorn, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref133">45</reflink>]; Wilson et al., [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref134">54</reflink>]). Particularly in new social contexts, such as the HE learning environment at the transition to HE, belongingness appears to be relevant for social activity. This resonates with the conception of 'mere belonging' as proposed by Walton et al. ([<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref135">50</reflink>]). This implies that in new social contexts with unfamiliar others, a mere and early sense of perceived social connectedness to and identification with other individuals could drive behaviours within that context, such as relationship building. Although Walton et al. ([<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref136">50</reflink>]) mainly emphasised the importance of mere belonging for performance-related tasks, our study contributes by showing the importance of early sense of belonging in driving peer relationships within educational contexts.</p> <p>The observation that students with a higher sense of belonging are more frequently asked for help and that students tend to ask help from peers with similar belonging highlights that the effect of belonging in peer networks goes beyond enhancing students' own activity. It also affects whether and by whom students are approached for help by their peers. A possible explanation is a connection between sense of belonging and behavioural engagement in HE. For instance, students with a high sense of belonging tend to be more often present and ask questions in class (Gillen-O'Neel, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref137">16</reflink>]; Strayhorn, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref138">45</reflink>]). This behaviour makes these students more knowledgeable about the course programme, which makes them more popular as helpers. Furthermore, this behavioural engagement may be a marker of a certain 'student identity saliency' (Holmes et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref139">20</reflink>]), which drives preferences for help-seeking partners with similar identity. Students who perceive themselves as committed students, who strongly identify as HE student, and feel a strong sense of belonging, may oftentimes find themselves asking for help to others with a similar high belongingness and student identity, because they prefer to do so (i.e., identity-based homophily) or because these students are simply more available as they are more often present in HE classrooms and other educational activities in the HE learning environment (i.e., proximity). Looking into possible explanations for these novel findings on the importance of sense of belonging in peer networks would be an interesting endeavour for future research.</p> <p>Our findings have important practical implications for HE institutions. Peer relationships are a major source of information and support for students at the transition to HE (Stadtfeld, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref140">43</reflink>]; Willems et al., [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref141">55</reflink>]). Small-group education provides a safe and proximal context that facilitates relationships with diverse peers. However, even within small-group learning environments, relationship development requires active behaviour of students which can be hampered when students do not experience a sense of belonging in the learning environment. Especially if doubts about belonging result in limited access to study-related support, this might significantly hinder students' success in HE (Mishra, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref142">31</reflink>]). Enhancing students' sense of belonging in HE, for instance by providing belonging-specific interventions early at the transition to HE (van Lamoen et al., [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref143">49</reflink>]; Walton et al., [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref144">50</reflink>]), might for instance be a way in which HE institutions can support students with peer relationship development and, consequently, academic achievement and well-being in HE.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-23">Limitations and future directions</hd> <p>There are some limitations to the present study that should be acknowledged. First, in our measurement of migration background, we were restricted to the use of a three-category variable, distinguishing students without migration background, a Western migration background, and a non-Western migration background. Specific categorization was not possible, because more specific data were not available in the university's database. This omission may have caused some underestimation of migration background-based homophily because students may be particularly inclined to build relationships with peers with a more specific similar background (e.g., both a Turkish background), as these students do not only share experiences of having a migration history in the Netherlands, but also share language and background culture.</p> <p>Second, the data of the study were gathered among students in one course programme, limiting generalizability to other educational contexts. Next to the instructional approach, which role we discussed above, another relevant aspect may be the demographic composition of the course programme. The latter may have influenced network development, as the extent to which students are a numerical minority influences relationship formation in educational contexts (Bowman & Park, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref145">4</reflink>]). By comparing multiple course programmes with varying demographic compositions, future studies could investigate the role of the demographic composition in diverse students' network development.</p> <p>Another direction for future research might be to further investigate how individual cognitions play a role in network development at the transition to HE. Next to our study showing a role of belonging, and previous research indicating an effect of academic self-efficacy in students' integration in networks (Zander et al., [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref146">59</reflink>]), only limited research has addressed how individual cognitions play a role in network development. Future research could for instance investigate the role of students' professional identity, which may enhance collaboration between students (Jensen & Jetten, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref147">22</reflink>]), or the role of mattering—a concept that has recently been suggested as an alternative to sense of belonging as it accounts for the importance of personal recognition and attention that students require in the HE learning environment (Cole et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref148">12</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-24">Conclusion</hd> <p>In sum, this study examined the role of student background characteristics and sense of belonging in the selection of friendship and help-seeking relations during the transition to HE. The findings suggest that the background characteristics generation-status and migration background play a role at the start of the academic year, but in different ways. Whereas generation-status only influences the number of nominations in the friendship network, migration background primarily influences with whom students build relationships, both in the friendship and help-seeking networks. The extent to which students experience a sense of belonging at the start of the academic year further positively influences how active they are with forming friendships and help-seeking relations. At a later stage of the first semester, students tend to ask help to others with a similar level of belongingness to the course programme. Altogether, the results show the relevance of adopting a network approach while studying diverse students' social relations and emphasise the importance of considering the transition to HE as a longitudinal process that occurs in stages. Furthermore, our study underlines the importance of an early sense of belonging for all students' social adjustment in the HE learning environment during the transition to HE.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-25">Declarations</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0182315245-26">Conflict of interest</hd> <p>The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.</p> <hd id="AN0182315245-27">Publisher's Note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0182315245-28"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref56" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Álvarez-Rivadulla MJ, Jaramillo AM, Fajardo F, Cely L, Molano A, Montes F. College integration and social class. Higher Education. 2022; 84; 3: 647-669. 10.1007/s10734-021-00793-6</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref11" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Bowman NA, Brandenberger JW. 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Friendship homophily trajectories among Asian American youth from high school to college. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 2024; 53: 2139-2150. 10.1007/s10964-024-02008-4</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author; Author; Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>Pieter M. van Lamoen Pieter M. van Lamoen is a PhD candidate at the Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. His research interests include diversity and inclusion in higher education, peer relationships, sense of belonging, and professional identity, particularly at the transition from secondary to higher education.</p> <p>Marieke Meeuwisse Marieke Meeuwisse is a Full Professor at the Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Central themes in her research are diversity, inclusion, and student success, with a special interest in the higher education learning environment, student and staff interactions, and sense of belonging.</p> <p>Annemarie M.F. Hiemstra Annemarie M. F. Hiemstra is an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research interests include personnel selection, psychological assessment, hiring discrimination and work-place diversity.</p> <p>Lidia R. Arends Lidia R. Arends is a Full Professor of Methodology and Statistics at the Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her areas of interest include research methods, (logistic) regression analysis, multilevel analysis, systematic reviews, and meta‐analysis.</p> <p>Sabine E. Severiens Sabine E. Severiens is a Full Professor at the Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research interests include diversity and educational equity, from the perspective of the teacher (culturally responsive teaching) as well as the student (motivation, integration, and the learning environment).</p> <p>Jasperina Brouwer Jasperina Brouwer is employed as assistant professor at the Department Educational Sciences at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. She has expertise in social networks, in particular longitudinal social network analysis. She is interested in social capital and small group or team processes in higher education and at the workplace.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref18"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib52" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib54" firstref="ref23"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib51" firstref="ref27"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref30"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref31"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib55" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref39"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref42"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref46"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref47"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref48"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref54"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib58" firstref="ref57"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref62"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref63"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib57" firstref="ref65"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib60" firstref="ref68"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref77"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref78"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib50" firstref="ref79"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib56" firstref="ref83"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref87"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl39" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref88"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl40" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref91"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl41" bibid="bib59" firstref="ref92"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl42" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref93"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl43" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref94"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl44" bibid="bib53" firstref="ref99"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl45" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref100"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl46" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref101"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl47" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref117"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl48" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref122"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl49" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref139"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl50" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref147"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl51" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref148"></nolink>
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  Data: At the transition to higher education, students from diverse backgrounds develop peer networks that support learning in higher education. However, few studies have investigated how students' background characteristics play a role in social selection mechanisms such as friendship and help-seeking and what drives the formation of diverse peer networks, including the role of students' sense of belonging in higher education. We studied how students' migration background and generation in higher education-status affect peer network development at the transition to higher education and how sense of belonging plays a role in the development of diverse peer networks. In total, 247 first-year higher education students filled out surveys at three times during the first semester at the transition to higher education. Longitudinal complete social network data on students' friendship and help-seeking relationships in the course programme were analysed using stochastic actor-oriented modelling. At the start of the academic year, continuing-generation in higher education students and students with a strong sense of belonging were more active with building relationships. Students were more likely to connect to others with a similar migration background. At later stages of the transition to HE, students who scored high on sense of belonging were more likely to seek help from each other. Our findings underscore the importance of students' background characteristics in the development of friendship and help-seeking networks. Furthermore, we provide first evidence that sense of belonging plays an important role in the formation of peer networks.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1457913
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1457913
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1007/s11218-024-10014-4
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Higher Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: College Freshmen
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student Characteristics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student Adjustment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Peer Groups
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: School Transition
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cultural Influences
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Peer Relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Friendship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Sense of Belonging
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Help Seeking
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: The Role of Student Background Characteristics and Sense of Belonging in the Development of Peer Networks at the Transition to Higher Education
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Pieter M. van Lamoen
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Marieke Meeuwisse
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Annemarie M. F. Hiemstra
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Lidia R. Arends
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Sabine E. Severiens
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Jasperina Brouwer
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          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 12
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 1381-2890
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 1573-1928
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 28
            – Type: issue
              Value: 1
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal
              Type: main
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