Commensality and academic performance: measuring peer acceptance among college students
Jinxi Wen1,2, Wenjing Lyu3, Jin Liu4
1School of Education, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.
NPJ Science of Learning
|September 29, 2025
Summary
Shared mealtimes (commensality) can indicate peer acceptance, positively impacting academic performance in university students. This effect is stronger for certain student groups, suggesting universities should foster communal dining environments.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Educational Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Peer relationships are crucial for academic success, but their specific impact in higher education is not fully understood.
- Existing research lacks quantitative measures for peer acceptance and its link to academic outcomes.
- Commensality, or shared mealtimes, offers a novel, measurable proxy for peer acceptance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate commensality as a quantitative measure of peer acceptance.
- To investigate the relationship between peer acceptance (via commensality) and academic performance among first-year undergraduates.
- To explore how this relationship varies across different student demographics and backgrounds.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a large dataset of 2,717,938 transaction records from 3355 first-year undergraduates at a Chinese university.
- Developed "commensality value" metrics to quantitatively assess the extent and nature of peer interactions during shared mealtimes.
- Employed regression analyses to determine the correlation between commensality metrics and academic performance indicators.
Main Results:
- Peer acceptance, measured by commensality, demonstrated a significant positive correlation with academic performance.
- The positive association between peer acceptance and academic success was particularly pronounced when acceptance came from physically more distant peers.
- This correlation was stronger for male students, politically engaged students, former student leaders, and those with politically active parents.
Conclusions:
- Commensality serves as a valuable, quantifiable indicator of peer acceptance with tangible links to academic achievement.
- Universities can potentially enhance student academic outcomes by creating environments that promote shared mealtimes and peer interaction.
- The findings underscore the importance of social integration and peer networks in the academic journey of university students.
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