Geek or Jock, Networking Skills Count

The formative years of high school can be a joyful time for some and a nightmarish proving ground for others as students learn to navigate the highly stratified world of adolescent relationships. These experiences appear to have an additional benefit beyond simply making new friends; they also affect a student’s future income. In a new study, “Popularity,” written by Gabriella Conti, Andrea Galeotti, Gerrit Mueller, and Stephen Pudney, the authors demonstrate that regardless of their social group, the size of a student’s social networks appears to have an impact on their future earnings.

The study was based on information collected by the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which aggregated data on a group of 10,317 Wisconsin high school seniors from 1957 through 2005. The authors restricted the study to 4,330 male students to eliminate gender differences in workforce participation. Students in the sample were primarily non-Hispanic Whites. Selected students were tested for friendship ties through a survey method recording what the authors refer to as out-degree friendships, the number of “best friends” listed by a student; and in-degree friendships, the number of times a student was listed by others as a “best friend.” The authors find that the number of in-degree friendships was significantly correlated with future earnings. Over the course of the thirty-five year study, an increase on the in-degree friendship measure improved wages by roughly two percent.

The authors conclude that the in-degree measure is a more honest record of who is actually in a given student’s network, rather than the out-degree measure, which largely correlates to whom the student perceives or desires to be in their network. These observations remained consistent even after controlling for other factors such as family background, cognitive ability, and school quality.

Based on their results, the authors suggest that the social skills developed in high school must be valued by the labor market. In support of this conclusion, they theorize that the learned ability to understand the “rules” of the social game, such as how to navigate a complex social environment, can lead to greater professional advancement. Students with larger in-degree networks are more likely to be more socially adept, gaining the acceptance and trust of others as well as learning how to best utilize the support of their social network.

Overall, the study represents a starting point for future research and new proposals to improve students’ social development in school. This may compel schools to consider developing programs to improve certain students’ social skills, skills that their peers may be learning in other domains. This could be manifested through a formalized social skills curriculum as well as fostering student participation in familial socialization. As social skills become increasingly valuable, developing these skills could become a source of greater focus for both educators and researchers seeking to improve the impact of education on wages.

Feature photo: cc/greekadman