Suspended by association: Does vicarious suspension increase the odds of adolescent school discipline?

An implicit assumption in the school discipline literature is that exclusionary discipline only affects students who are punished. Research has just begun to explore the possibility that school discipline has impact beyond the individuals directly punished. This study adds to this nascent but growing body of literature by examining whether direct and indirect network ties to suspended peers increase an individual’s odds of suspension. Using two waves of data on 1,923 students nested within 15 schools from the saturated sample in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), statistical models indicate that direct exposure to suspended friends increases an individual’s odds of being suspended, controlling for a wide array of individual, peer, network, and school characteristics. Additionally, closeness to suspended peers—direct connections and indirect connections up to two network distances away (i.e., the friend of a friend)—increase the odds of school discipline. The findings suggest that the stigma associated with school discipline can spread through adolescent friendship networks. Accordingly, school administrators should consider the consequences of school discipline for the broader student body.