The Moderating Role of Race/Ethnicity on Associations between Externalizing Problem Behaviors and School Suspensions

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

There is a growing awareness and emerging body of literature examining racial disparities in rates of suspension. For example, evidence suggests that the suspension rate of Black students is over three times the rate of White students (Riddle & Sinclair, 2019). Externalizing problem behaviors in early and middle childhood— such as being argumentative, destructive, disobedient, and physically aggressive (Miner & Clarke-Stewart, 2008) — are strong predictors of in- and out- of school suspension in elementary and middle school (Lane et al., 2019; Wright et al., 2014). The concurrent associations between externalizing and suspension and race/ethnicity and suspension warrant further investigation of whether inequitable discipline practices extend to children who exhibit externalizing problem behaviors. It is important to highlight that children demonstrate distinct trajectories of externalizing from early to middle childhood (Campbell et al. 2006; López-Romero et al., 2015; Shaw et al., 2003). Analyses of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten (ECLS-K) 1998-99 cohort, a large nationally representative sample, yielded five trajectories of externalizing problem behaviors from kindergarten through fifth grade: stably low (about 38% of children), stably average (35%), stably high (6%), slightly above average transitioning to high (9%), and high transitioning to slightly above average (13%; Miller & Votruba-Drzal, 2017).
The current study uses a developmental psychopathology lens to examine racial/ethnic disproportionality in school suspensions. This lens affords a consistent and robust operationalization of children’s problem behaviors from early to middle childhood which is critical for examining associations between problem behaviors and suspension. Further, a majority of the research on racial disparities in externalizing and suspension focuses solely on differences between Black and White students. The current project extends to Asian, Indigenous, Latinx, and Multiracial students to better understand whether disparities in externalizing problem behaviors and school suspensions extend beyond Black and White populations. This project will use growth mixture modeling to examine associations between teacher-reported externalizing trajectories in kindergarten through fifth grade and parent-reported suspensions by eighth grade in the ECLS-K 1998-99 cohort. The project will also examine the moderating role of race/ethnicity on these associations.
Preliminary regression analyses indicate that as children’s externalizing problem behaviors increase, suspensions increase significantly more for Black children compared to White children, and increase significantly less for Asian and Latinx children compared to White children. These findings are consistent with prior literature highlighting disproportionate rates of suspensions for Black children who exhibit the same behaviors as White children (Horner et al., 2010; Skiba, 2015) and raise further questions about significant differences among children of other races/ethnicities.
When children’s externalizing behaviors are addressed primarily with punitive actions, such as school suspension, this increases the likelihood that children will have worse academic outcomes, be more likely to drop out, and be more likely to be involved in the juvenile justice system (Skiba, 2015). Thus, understanding the role of race/ethnicity in associations between children’s externalizing problem behaviors and school suspensions is crucial for developing solutions to the discipline gap and ultimately the school to prison pipeline.

Authors

• Lorraine Reese Blatt, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author