The moderating role of classroom racial composition on the association between income and child adjustment outcomes

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic -Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Abstract

Research has shown that racial identity—and related experiences of racial discrimination for people of color—influences mental and physical health outcomes across the lifespan (Harell, Hall, & Taliaferro, 2002). Representation in one’s environment (e.g., having a teacher of color or being in predominantly-minority spaces) may serve as an early protective factor for academic and social-emotional outcomes for children of color (Gershenson, Hart, Lindsay, & Papageorge, 2017). Despite evidence suggesting that low-income students begin school academically behind their peers (Ferguson, Bovaird & Mueller, 2007), studies infrequently explore the intersections between poverty and racial identity and their influences on child outcomes. The current study examines the ways in which racial identity, racial representation in the classroom, and socioeconomic status uniquely and interactively predict individual differences in internalizing and externalizing behaviors in early childhood.
The data used in this study come from the Family Life Project (N=1,292), a prospective longitudinal sample of children living in predominantly low-income, rural communities (Vernon-Fegans & Cox, 2013). School visits were conducted when children were in 2nd grade and home visits were conducted shortly after, when children were 7-8. Due to a very high correlation between child race and classroom racial composition (r=.67), separate hierarchical linear regression models for child racial groups (Black and White) were conducted. We examined main and interaction effects of racial representation in the classroom and family income-to-needs ratio (INR) on parent-reported child internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age seven (SDQ; Goodman et al., 2000). Racial representation was indexed by both racial composition of the classroom (%black and %white) and teacher race (White or non-White). All models controlled for effects of sex and age.
Contrary to our hypotheses, findings demonstrated that classroom racial representation and INR had no significant main or interacting effects on child behavior among Black students. However, significant main and interactive effects were found for representation and INR among White children, unique to each of the primary outcomes. Specifically, a higher percentage of White students combined with greater INR was associated with less internalizing (B=-.001, p<.05). No effects were found for teacher race and internalizing. In contrast, the association between INR varied as a function of teacher race such that higher INR and having a non-White teacher was associated with greater externalizing symptoms, with the reverse effect for lower INR (B=.197, p<.001).
Findings may be unique to experiences of rural poverty, which are more sociodemographically homogeneous compared to urban environments and thus observed inequalities may be less pronounced. It is also possible that our measures of racial representation may not be properly indexing more proximal mechanisms that may help explain the effect, and therefore future analyses will explore additional explanatory variables. Elucidating intersectional associations between race, income, and behavioral outcomes early in development will provide targets for interventions, programs, and policies that aim to ameliorate the deleterious effects racial and socioeconomic inequalities have on youth.

Authors

• Otiti Mayo, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Keira Bryn Leneman, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meriah L. DeJoseph, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Clancy Blair, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel Berry, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author