Commensality and academic performance: measuring peer acceptance among college students.

ABSTRACT: Peer relationships play a critical role in academic performance, yet their link in higher education remains underexplored. This study introduces commensality-shared mealtimes-as a novel proxy for peer acceptance and examines its relationship with academic outcomes across student groups. Using 2,717,938 transaction records from 3355 first-year undergraduates at a prestigious Chinese university, we developed "commensality value" metrics to quantitatively measure peer relationships. Regression analyses reveal that peer acceptance, particularly from peers who are more physically distant, is positively correlated with academic performance. This correlation is stronger among male students, politically active students, former class leaders, and those with politically active parents. These finding

SUBMITTER: Wen J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12479995 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature