"Psst ... what do you think?" the relationship between advice prestige, type of advice, and academic performance

This study investigates the relationship between classmates seeking out a student for advice (advice prestige) and that student's academic performance. Students' conversations could inhibit or encourage their academic performance depending on the conversation's topic. Specifically, it is hypothesized that as more classmates report asking a student for general advice, then the student would perform less well. In contrast, it is hypothesized that as more classmates report asking a student for class advice, then the student would perform better. Hypotheses (n =139) were supported. Even after controlling for sex and GPA, less general-advice prestige and higher class-advice prestige relates to higher academic performance.