Students collaborating and studying together, with glowing connections representing peer influence on their academic achievement.

Unlock Your Potential: How Peer Influence Really Impacts Your Grades

Kai Mendoza in Mind & Education June 2025 • 4 min read.

"Discover the surprising truth about how your friends' academic efforts affect your GPA, and how to avoid common pitfalls in understanding peer influence."

It’s no secret that friends can influence various aspects of our lives, from fashion choices to favorite hangouts. But what about something as crucial as academic performance? The idea that peers affect a student's effort and, consequently, their grades has been a topic of interest for years. Understanding this influence is vital for students and policymakers aiming to boost academic achievement.

Traditionally, studies have used Grade Point Average (GPA) as a stand-in for effort, assuming that higher GPAs reflect more significant academic exertion. However, this approach oversimplifies the picture. GPA isn’t just about effort; it’s also influenced by factors like teaching quality, personal aptitude, and even random luck. This makes it difficult to isolate the true impact of peer influence.

Recent research offers a new approach to untangling these complexities, revealing that the traditional method may underestimate the true impact of peer influence, particularly when considering students who don't have strong social connections. Let's explore how this new perspective can change how we understand and leverage peer effects in education.

The GPA Illusion: Why Effort is More Than Just Grades

Students collaborating and studying together, with glowing connections representing peer influence on their academic achievement.

The core issue with using GPA as a direct measure of effort is that GPA is affected by more than just how hard a student works. Unobserved factors, like variations in teaching quality or a student’s inherent interest in a subject, play a significant role. These external influences can muddy the waters when trying to determine how much of a student's GPA is due to their own effort versus the influence of their peers.

Consider this: A student might have a high GPA not because they're working harder due to peer influence, but because they have an exceptional teacher. Conversely, a student might exert a lot of effort but see a lower GPA due to less effective teaching. This difference highlights the need for a more nuanced approach that distinguishes between effort and external factors affecting GPA.

Here’s a breakdown of the key problems with using GPA as a proxy for effort:

External Shocks: Factors like teacher quality or school resources can directly impact GPA without changing a student's effort.
Preference Shocks: Changes in a student's motivation or how they value academic achievement can affect both effort and GPA, creating a social multiplier effect.
Isolated Students: Traditional models often fail to account for how students without strong social connections are affected differently by these shocks.

The new research introduces a model that distinguishes between these unobserved factors, providing a clearer view of how peer influence truly affects academic effort. This model recognizes that some factors directly impact GPA without affecting effort, while others influence a student's preference for academic achievement, driving both effort and GPA. By separating these effects, researchers can more accurately estimate the real impact of peer influence.

Real-World Implications: Making Peer Influence Work for You

Understanding the true nature of peer influence can lead to more effective strategies for boosting academic achievement. By accounting for unobserved factors and focusing on actual effort, students, educators, and policymakers can make more informed decisions and create interventions that truly impact student success. Whether it's forming study groups or seeking out mentors, recognizing and leveraging peer influence can be a powerful tool for unlocking academic potential.

About this Article -

This article was crafted using a human-AI hybrid and collaborative approach. AI assisted our team with initial drafting, research insights, identifying key questions, and image generation. Our human editors guided topic selection, defined the angle, structured the content, ensured factual accuracy and relevance, refined the tone, and conducted thorough editing to deliver helpful, high-quality information.See our About page for more information.

This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2405.0685,

Title: Identifying Peer Effects In Networks With Unobserved Effort And Isolated Students

Subject: econ.em

Authors: Aristide Houndetoungan, Cristelle Kouame, Michael Vlassopoulos

Published: 10-05-2024

Everything You Need To Know

How does the study explain peer influence on Grade Point Average (GPA)?

The research indicates that peer influence on Grade Point Average (GPA) is more complex than previously considered. Traditional studies often used GPA as a direct measure of effort, which overlooks external factors. These external influences, such as teaching quality and individual aptitude, can significantly affect GPA, making it challenging to isolate the true impact of peer influence. The new research introduces a model that differentiates between factors directly impacting GPA and those influencing a student's preference for academic achievement, providing a clearer view of peer effects.

Why is using Grade Point Average (GPA) a flawed approach to understanding effort?

Using Grade Point Average (GPA) as a direct measure of effort is flawed because GPA is influenced by factors beyond a student's work ethic. These factors include teaching quality, personal aptitude, and even random luck. For instance, a student might achieve a high GPA due to an exceptional teacher, not necessarily because of peer influence. Conversely, a student may exert significant effort but still receive a lower GPA due to less effective teaching. These external factors, known as 'External Shocks' and 'Preference Shocks', distort the true relationship between effort and GPA, complicating the assessment of peer influence.

What are 'External Shocks' and 'Preference Shocks', and how do they affect understanding peer influence?

'External Shocks' refer to factors such as teacher quality or school resources that can directly impact a student's GPA without necessarily changing their effort. For example, a student in a well-resourced school might have a higher GPA simply because of the resources available. 'Preference Shocks', on the other hand, involve changes in a student's motivation or their valuation of academic achievement. These can influence both effort and GPA, creating what's called a 'social multiplier effect'. Both types of shocks make it difficult to accurately measure the true effect of peer influence on academic performance because they introduce variables independent of peer interactions that can affect a student's GPA.

How can the new research on peer influence improve strategies for boosting academic achievement?

The research suggests that understanding the true nature of peer influence can enhance strategies for boosting academic achievement. By accounting for unobserved factors and focusing on actual effort, students, educators, and policymakers can make more informed decisions. This approach allows for the creation of interventions that genuinely impact student success. For example, forming study groups or seeking out mentors can be more effective when leveraging peer influence in a way that considers the individual student's circumstances and external factors affecting their GPA, not just the GPA itself.

How does the research address the impact of peer influence on students without strong social connections?

Traditional models often overlook how students without strong social connections are affected by peer influence. The new research introduces a model that distinguishes between unobserved factors affecting academic effort, providing a clearer view of peer influence, especially for isolated students. By separating factors that directly impact GPA from those that influence a student's preference for academic achievement, the research can better estimate the real impact of peer influence on all students, not just those with robust social networks. This comprehensive approach enables a more accurate understanding of how peer influence impacts all students, regardless of their social connections.