The proposed study is a longitudinal investigation of family and peer processes that protect urban adolescents from becoming disengaged from school. It is guided by an ecological systems framework that posits that individuals growing up in similar environments are differentially vulnerable to the risks present within those environments, based on their own developmental histories and personal and social resources.
The specific aims are to 1) describe the differing educational trajectories of urban adolescents as they make the transition from junior high to high school, 2) examine whether adolescents' educational trajectories are associated with changes in life stress and support from parents and peers, and 3) examine whether the associations between educational trajectories and protective processes differ for girls and boys, and for African-American and European-American youth. A sample of 270 African-American and European-American 7th - 9th grade adolescents and their primary caregiver from a racially diverse, low-income urban community will be followed over a four year period. The study involves both quantitative and qualitative methods. The full sample will be annually administered a set of questionnaires on life stress, support networks, parenting practices, and adolescent school achievement and school engagement. A series of in-depth interviews and participant observation with a subsample of 20 low- and high-achieving 8th graders will also be done to more fully explore differing educational trajectories within low-income urban neighborhoods. Analyses of the quantitative data will involve growth curve analysis to describe patterns of change in adolescents' school achievement and school engagement over time. For outcomes that show significant change, a second set of growth curve models will be estimated to examine associations between educational trajectories and changes in life stress, social support, and parenting practices. Growth curve analyses will also be done to examine whether adolescents' educational trajectories and protective processes differ for girls and boys, and for African-American and European-American youth. The qualitative data will be analyzed using grounded theory to identify protective processes and turning points in adolescents' school experiences that inform and expand the quantitative results.
| Petras, Hanno; Chilcoat, Howard D; Leaf, Philip J et al. (2004) Utility of TOCA-R scores during the elementary school years in identifying later violence among adolescent males. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 43:88-96 |
