Poster #62 - Mediating School Interracial Climate and Student Problem Behavior: Are Educational Aspiration-Expectation Gaps the Missing Piece?

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Adolescent problem behavior is associated with an increased risk for psychopathology in early adulthood, including substance abuse and dependence, antisocial behavior, and major depressive disorder (McGue & Iacono, 2005). Several school-related factors like school disengagement, school bonding, and unclear school rules have been documented to contribute to the development problem behaviors in adolescence (Gottfredson, Gottfredson, Payne, & Gottfredson, 2005; Henry, Knight, & Thornberry, 2012; Simons-Morton, Crump, Haynie, & Saylor, 1999). Similarly, students’ perceptions of their schools’ interracial climate have been found to contribute to their problem behaviors. Specifically, students’ negative perception of school interracial climate predicts student discipline problems (Griffin & Allen, 2006; Thapa, Cohen, Guffey, & Higgins-D’Alessandro, 2013).
The mechanisms by which school interracial climate may affect adolescent behavioral outcomes, however, have not been examined through research. One possible mechanism is student aspiration-expectation gaps, which is the misalignment of students’ educational aspirations and expectations. Students with larger aspiration-expectation gaps, meaning their educational aspirations exceed their educational expectations, have lower school bonding, more behavioral and emotional difficulties, and poorer relationship with teachers (Boxer, Goldstein, DeLorenzo, Savoy, & Mercado, 2011; Kirk et al., 2012). Given that school interracial climate has been related to student academic outcomes, including academic achievement and college preparation (Griffin & Allen, 2006; Mattison & Aber, 2007), it may affect students’ feelings about their ability to reach their educational goals. The misalignment of students’ educational aspirations and expectations may, in turn, elicit feelings of frustration that result in the development of student problem behaviors (Boxer, et al., 2011). Given school interracial climate and aspiration-expectation gaps association with student problem behavior, the current study aims to test if students’ aspiration-expectation gaps mediate the relationship between school interracial climate and the development of student problem behavior. To explore the possibility that these relationships vary based on race/ethnicity, these associations were examined separately by racial/ethnic group.
Using data from a longitudinal school-based survey of 1,633 high school students, the current study found significant relationships between student perceived school interracial climate, aspiration-expectation gaps, and the development of students’ problem behaviors, such as fighting, school disciplinary problems, and involvement with deviant peers. Overall, students’ aspiration-expectation gap significantly mediates the relationship between school interracial climate and students’ problem behaviors (β = -0.05, SE = 0.01 p < 0.001). When examined using multi-group analysis, the indirect effect of school interracial climate on problem behavior, through students’ aspiration-expectation gaps, was only found for Black and White students.
This study highlights the educational aspiration-expectation gap as a possible mechanism by which school interracial climate contributes to the development of students’ problem behavior. Findings suggest improving high schools’ interracial climate might decrease student problem behaviors over time by helping students believe that they can reach their educational goals.

Authors

• Jessica Renee Norton, Auburn University
  Presenting Author

• Colleen Halliday-Boykins, Medical University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Author

• Aimee McRae-Clark, Medical University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sandra Graham, University of California, Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author