Fresh Look at the Middle School Transition: A Cross-Sectional Study of Academic and Social Adjustment

• In Event: 72.050 - Poster Session 17
  In Poster Session: 72.050-1 - Adolescent Adjustment: Peer, Family, and School Contexts

Abstract

We examined academic and socio-emotional adjustment in a contemporary sample of youth before and after the transition to middle school. Given recent reform efforts to better align middle schools with adolescents’ developmental needs, it is important to revisit students’ adjustment during this critical transition. Our results indicate that students continue to struggle academically upon entering middle school, but their socio-emotional adjustment is more nuanced. Students were stable and even improving on some of our socio-emotional indicators. Further analyses revealed that girls, more so than boys, were likely to experience declines during the school year from fall to spring. Results of this study suggest possible interventions with continued socio-emotional support and perhaps more academic support as students transition to middle school.

Authors

• Nicole Rausch, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Sarah E. McKellar, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Elizabeth Anne North, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Allison M. Ryan, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor