Poster #26 - Children’s well-being across the transition from elementary school to secondary school: Evidence from the German Family Panel

• In Event: 3-001 - Poster Session 2 during Breakfast

Abstract

The transition from elementary school to secondary school may be experienced as stressful if family resources for supporting the child’s transition are low and if demands in the new school are high. This paper uses longitudinal data from the German family panel pairfam to examine (1) whether children evidence increasing emotional distress across this transition, (2) whether increased distress is more likely in the high (vs. low) demand track of the secondary school, (3) whether children in nuclear families are better able to navigate this transition, experiencing less distress than children from separated families, and (4) whether parental education acts as a resource and moderates effects of the school type and family structure on child well-being.
For the analyses data of the relationship and family panel "pairfam" were restructured and information from 8 waves, which were assessed yearly, were used. Overall, data from 651 children (female: 48.2%) were used, who had moved from elementary school to secondary school during the observation period. Through a latent change score model, which considered the parents' education as a moderator in a two-group comparison (with vs. without a university entrance qualification), the change in emotional well-being between two grade levels was modeled. Furthermore, effects of the secondary school type (grammar school vs. non-grammar school) and the family structure (nuclear families vs. separated families) were modeled on the latent changes.
The results show significant differences in baseline levels of emotional strain according to parents' education: children from higher-education families reported lower emotional stress before transition than children from lower-education families. There was a decrease in emotional stress during school transition and the change in emotional stress was not predicated by the secondary school type but very well by the family structure. Children from separated families showed a lesser decline in their emotional problems than children from nuclear families. The results were moderated by parents' education: The effect of family structure only shows in parents without a university entrance qualification.

Authors

• Philipp Alt, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

• Sabine Walper, German Youth Institute Munich
  Presenting Author

• Gabriela Gniewosz, German Youth Institute Munich