This study explored the factors that shape the power relationships that form through interactions within a given network. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between students' gender, race/ethnicity, first-generation status, their sense of agency, their posting time in online discussions, and the power status that each participant held in an asynchronous online threaded discussion network. Little work has been done to empirically measure the relationships between learners' demographics, their sense of agency, and the time in which they interact in discussions, as they relate to the power that may be embedded in online relationships. This study applied a novel approach using the social network analysis (SNA) measure of eigenvector centrality to explore the relationships between demographics, agency, posting time, and power status in online discussions. SNA and regression results demonstrate the presence of unequal power relationships in asynchronous online interaction. Results also reinforce previous studies that asynchronous online threaded discussions may provide a learning environment which favors interactions among females and that race/ethnicity had a small significant effect on power status in the online threaded discussion network, with Black and Asian students likely to hold a lower power status. Results also showed a strong relationship between early posting time and higher power status in the network, with those who posting earliest holding the highest power status in the network. Therefore, implications for threaded discussion design as it relates to posting deadlines and online interactions are offered through the use of "rolling" deadlines. Finally, implications and suggestions for engaging students across demographics in online threaded discussions are provided. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]