Having opposite gender friends can reduce highschool achievement

Is having a friend from the opposite gender a help or a hindrance to getting good grades in high school? In new research using data on high school friendship networks and academic achievement, Andrew J. Hill finds that a ten percent increase in opposite gender friends reduces a students’ GPA score by 0.1 points. He writes that this effect on students can be found in mathematics and science subjects, but not in English and history.