Session Information
07 SES 05 A, Student Voice and Belonging
Paper Session
Contribution
In Europe as well as in other regions of the world, policy makers and researchers worry about the consequences of ethnic segregation in schools. In most countries, policymakers strive for a dispersal of ethnically diverse students across schools (Van Avermaet et al., 2010), a policy direction supported by studies that point to the negative consequences of segregation, for cognitive (Bankston & Caldas, 1998) and non-cognitive outcomes (Stretesky & Hogan, 2005).
Most previous studies adopted a top-down approach to investigate whether a school-level ethnic composition measure has an effect on student outcomes. More recently, a bottom-up approach has originated (Benner & Graham, 2007). Starting from person-environment fit theory (Moos, 1987), studies have focused on the implications of ethnic congruence – that is, the percentage of co-ethnic students at school for students’ well-being at school. Scholars find that attending a school where more co-ethnics can be found, is associated with a higher sense of belonging (Benner & Graham, 2007) and better academic outcomes (Benner & Crosnoe, 2011).
Being a rather recent research line, ethnic congruence literature is still fragmentary. First, to our knowledge no study has investigated implications of ethnic congruence for students’ behavior in school. Yet, given the dire risks involved with misbehaving at school – including poorer grades (Roeser & Eccles, 1998) and even higher chances for dropout (Newcomb et al., 2002) – it is important to investigate whether ethnic congruence relates to student misbehavior. Starting from social control theory (Hirschi, 1969), ethnic congruence effects on misconduct can be expected. The social control theory holds that conventional bonds to the school context and its actors diminish chances for misbehavior (e.g. Dornbusch et al., 2001). Given that students with higher congruence feel more highly connected to the school context (e.g. Benner & Graham, 2007), we expect higher congruence to decrease school misbehavior.
Second, the ethnic congruence literature has approached students’ sense of belonging predominantly as a unitary construct (e.g. Benner & Graham, 2007). Sense of belonging, however, consists of several interrelated subdimensions, enveloping feelings of attachment to peers, teachers and the school as institutional context (see also Demanet & Van Houtte, 2012). It is quite possible that ethnic congruence – in other words, a higher presence of co-ethnic peers – relates only to higher attachment to peers, but not necessarily leads to stronger connections to teachers and the school. This would be consequential for school misconduct, as, in a previous study, we found that while belonging to the school environment and to teachers diminishes school misconduct, higher attachment to an inner circle of friends might increase it (Demanet & Van Houtte, 2012).
All this leads us to address the following research questions. First, we investigate whether ethnic congruence relates to school misconduct. Second, we examine whether these eventual associations are mediated by attachment to friends, by attachment to teachers, and/or by attachment to the school context. As previous studies found that ethnic congruence affects ethnic minority and majority students differently (see e.g. Benner & Graham, 2007), a specific aim is to investigate whether associations differ across ethnic minority and majority students.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bankston, C., & Caldas, S. J. (1998). Race, poverty, family structure, and the inequality of schools. Sociological Spectrum, 18, 55-76. Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research. Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173-1182. Barth, J. M., McDonald, K. L., Lochman, J. E., Boxmeyer, C., Powell, N., Dillon, C., & Sallee, M. (2013). Racially diverse classrooms: Effects of classroom racial composition on interracial peer relationships. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 83(2-3), 231. Benner, A. D., & Crosnoe, R. (2011). The racial/ethnic composition of elementary schools and young children’s academic and socioemotional functioning. American Educational Research Journal, 48(3), 621-646. Benner, A. D., & Graham, S. (2007). Navigating the Transition to Multi‐Ethnic Urban High Schools: Changing Ethnic Congruence and Adolescents' School‐Related Affect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17(1), 207-220. Demanet, J., & Van Houtte, M. (2012). School belonging and school misconduct: The differing role of teacher and peer attachment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(4), 499-514. Dornbusch, S. M., Erickson, K. G., Laird, J., & Wong, C. A. (2001). The relation of family and school attachment to adolescent deviance in diverse groups and communities. Journal of Adolescent Research, 16(4), 396-422. Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents. Scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30(1), 79-90. Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press. Moos, R. H. (1987). Person-environment congruence in work, school, and health care settings. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 31(3), 231-247. Newcomb, M. D., Abbott, R. D., Catalano, R. F., Hawkins, J. D., Battin-Pearson, S., & Hill, K. (2002). Mediational and deviance theories of late high school failure: Process roles of structural strains, academic competence, and general versus specific problem behaviors. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49(2), 172-186. Roeser, R. W. & Eccles, J. S. (1998). Adolescents' perceptions of middle school: Relation to longitudinal changes in academic and psychological adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8, 123-158. Stewart, E. A. (2003). School social bonds, school climate, and school misbehavior: A multilevel analysis. Justice Quarterly, 20, 575-604. Stretesky, P. B. & Hogan, M. J. (2005). Segregation and school disorder. Social Science Journal, 42, 405-420. Van Avermaet, P., Van den Branden, K., & Heylen, L. (2010). Goed geGOKt? Reflecties op twintig jaar gelijkeonderwijskansenbeleid in Vlaanderen. Antwerpen/Apeldoorn: Garant.
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