Steinberg confirms the powerful role of peer culture in the school achievement of students of other ethnic groups, adding that it may even undermine some of the effectiveness of otherwise successful parental strategies. While the parental characteristics of successful students were the same for the various ethnic groups studied, Steinberg notes that they did not have the same results for each ethnic group. Black, white, Asian American, and Latino American students who had parents who were warm, firm, supportive, and involved did better than their peers who had parents without those characteristics. Yet, black students performed worse in school than Asian American students, even when both had the advantage of warm, firm, supportive, and involved parents. According to Steinberg, this finding shows the effects of peer pressure.
Peers can positively or negatively affect each other s academic performance.
In his review of friends activity patterns from different ethnic groups, Steinberg found that Asian American students friends placed a greater emphasis on academics, had higher performance standards, devoted more time to homework, and earned higher grades in school than other students. Another way peers influence academic achievement has to do with the number of hours spent socializing. Socializing with friends was one of three time-use factors associated with lower school achievement. Steinberg concludes that school achievement is more dependent on the ways students structure their lives and on the priorities they and their parents hold than it is on the particular schools students attend. No efforts at school reform will matter until school success becomes a necessary and worthwhile goal, says Steinberg.