Social Network Placement of Rural Secondary Students with Disabilities: Affiliation and Centrality

This study examined social network centrality (i.e., social salience, peer group linkages) and peer affiliations in 20 rural high schools across the United States. The total sample consisted of 1,672 students in Grades 9 to 12, including 164 students with disabilities (69 females). In comparison to their peers without disabilities, students with disabilities were more likely to be identified as isolated, peripheral, or secondary in their school social structures. This finding suggested that they had lower levels of social visibility and social connections. Further, peer associates of students with disabilities tended to have less favorable interpersonal characteristics; and the peer groups in which they were members tended to be characterized by risk configurations that are associated with poor educational outcomes.