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

The social difficulties of students with a broad range of disabilities are well documented (e.g., Gresham & MacMillan, 1997; Sale & Carey, 1995). Much of the research on the social adjustment of youth with disabilities, however, has focused on elementary or middle school students and relatively little is known about the peer relations of high school students with disabilities. Further, investigations of the social adaption of students with disabilities has centered on peer acceptance problems and corresponding social competence deficits. Although such work is critically important (see Leffert, Siperstein, & Millikan, 2000; Nowicki, 2003; Siperstein & Parker, 2008), it only provides part of the story in terms of the social placement of students in their school social system, particularly during adolescence. In recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on social network centrality (i.e., social salience, social prominence) and peer-group affiliations as potential contributors to students' school adjustment. Though the importance of these constructs for students without disabilities is evident in much research, (e.g., Gest, Graham-Bermann, & Hartup, 2001; Lansford, Killeya-Jones, Miller, & Costanzo, 2009), little work has examined the social network centrality of students with disabilities or the characteristics of their peer affiliates, particularly during the high school years. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the high school social placement of students with disabilities by examining their social network centrality and the academic, behavioral, and social characteristics of the students with whom they affiliate. Such information may help guide future research to clarify the peer-relation factors that contribute to the high school adjustment and school completion in students with disabilities and may serve as foundation for the development of peer-focused interventions to improve the high school outcomes of students with disabilities.