School Socioeconomic Segregation, Family Socioeconomic Status, and Violence

• In Event: 2484 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. Crime, Deviance, and Education

Abstract

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study examines the relationship between school socioeconomic composition (SEC), family socioeconomic status (measured as parents’ education), and violence in adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Results show that a notable portion of the variance in the propensity for violence exists between schools. For lower and middle parental education respondents, school SEC is not related to violence in adolescence or the transition to adulthood. Compared with their peers in high SEC schools, high parental education respondents attending low and middle SEC school display higher odds of violent perpetration in adolescence. For those who attended low SEC schools, this association is additionally observed in the transition to adulthood. Associations between other school-level characteristics and violence are found to vary by parental education. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed within the context of the frog-pond framework.

Authors

• Nicolo P. Pinchak, Ohio State University

• Raymond R. Swisher, Bowling Green State University