The Impact of School Transitions in Early Adolescence on the Self-System and Perceived Social Context of Poor Urban Youth

• Published in: Child development 1994-04, Vol.65 (2), p.507-522
• Main Authors: Seidman, Edward, Allen, LaRue, Aber, J. Lawrence, Mitchell, Christina, Feinman, Joanna
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; African Americans - psychology; Baltimore; Blacks; Child; District of Columbia; Educational Status; Elementary School Students; Elementary schools; Ethnic Groups - psychology; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Female; Grade point average; High schools; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - psychology; Hispanics; Humans; Internal-External Control; Interpersonal Relationship; Junior High Schools; Life Stage Transitions; Low Income Groups; Male; Middle school students; Middle Schools; Motivation; New York City; Peer Relations; Personality Development; Poor families; Population Dynamics; Poverty - psychology; Racial Differences; School Attitudes; Self Concept; Self Esteem; Self image; Sex Differences; Social Identity; Social interaction; Social Perception; Social research; Social Systems; Socialization; Socioeconomic Status; Student Adjustment; Teenagers; Transition; Transition to School; Urban areas; Urban Population; Urban schools; USA; Whites
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00766.x

This study examined the effects of the normative school transition (n = 580) during early adolescence on the self-system and perceived school and peer social contexts of poor, black (n = 161), white (n = 146), and Latino (n = 273) youth in the public school systems of 3 eastern urban cities. The results revealed negative effects of the school transition on the affective and behavioral domains of the self-system. These declines in self-esteem, class preparation, and grade-point average (GPA) were common across race/ethnicity and gender. Concurrently, the school transition was perceived to be associated with changes in the school and peer contexts. Daily hassles with the school increased, while social support and extracurricular involvement decreased over the transition. Daily hassles with peers decreased, and peer values were perceived as more antisocial. These changes in the school and peer microsystems were also common across race/ethnicity and gender. In addition, transition-associated school and peer changes and, in particular, changes in daily hassles with the school were associated with changes in the academic dimensions of the self-system, that is, academic efficacy expectations, class preparation, and GPA. The results are discussed within a developmental mismatch framework.