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Academic Success Across the Transition from Primary to Secondary Schooling Among Lower-Income Adolescents: Understanding the Effects of Family Resources and Gender

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Abstract

Successful academic performance during adolescence is a key predictor of lifetime achievement, including occupational and social success. The present study investigated the important transition from primary to secondary schooling during early adolescence, when academic performance among youth often declines. The goal of the study was to understand how risk factors, specifically lower family resources and male gender, threaten academic success following this “critical transition” in schooling. The study involved a longitudinal examination of the predictors of academic performance in grades 7–8 among 127 (56 % girls) French-speaking Quebec (Canada) adolescents from lower-income backgrounds. As hypothesized based on transition theory, hierarchical regression analyses showed that supportive parenting and specific academic, social and behavioral competencies (including spelling ability, social skills, and lower levels of attention problems) predicted success across this transition among at-risk youth. Multiple-mediation procedures demonstrated that the set of compensatory factors fully mediated the negative impact of lower family resources on academic success in grades 7–8. Unique mediators (social skills, spelling ability, supportive parenting) also were identified. In addition, the “gender gap” in performance across the transition could be attributed statistically to differences between boys and girls in specific competencies observed prior to the transition, as well as differential parenting (i.e., support from mother) towards girls and boys. The present results contribute to our understanding of the processes by which established risk factors, such as low family income and gender impact development and academic performance during early adolescence. These “transitional” processes and subsequent academic performance may have consequences across adolescence and beyond, with an impact on lifetime patterns of achievement and occupational success.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by Grants from les Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The Concordia Project originated in 1976 under the direction of Jane Ledingham and Alex E. Schwartzman. The intergenerational project is directed by Lisa A. Serbin, Dale M. Stack and Alex E. Schwartzman. We extend our gratitude to the graduate students, undergraduate students, research assistants and volunteers for their hard work on the Concordia Project. We also wish to thank Claude Senneville, Nadine Girouard, Guang Hui Li, Alessandra Rivizzigno and the Concordia Project team for their assistance in data collection and analysis, and Marie-Hélène Véronneau for helpful suggestions on an earlier draft of this article. We also extend our appreciation to the participating schools, teachers and personnel for their help and support. Finally, we are most indebted to the participants and their families.

Author contributions

LAS conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript; DMS participated in the design and interpretation of the data; DK participated in the design of the study, performed the statistical analysis and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West PY-170, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada

    Lisa A. Serbin, Dale M. Stack & Danielle Kingdon

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  1. Lisa A. Serbin
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Serbin, L.A., Stack, D.M. & Kingdon, D. Academic Success Across the Transition from Primary to Secondary Schooling Among Lower-Income Adolescents: Understanding the Effects of Family Resources and Gender. J Youth Adolescence 42, 1331–1347 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9987-4

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