Behavioral disengagement as a reaction to structural and cultural school disadvantage? The role of academic mindsets

The relationship between socio-economic background and deviance has been debated for decades. In this contribution, we investigate whether objective and subjective indicators of socio-economic disadvantage at the student level – namely, parental unemployment and feelings of economic deprivation – and at the school level – that is, unemployment composition and a culture of economic deprivation – affect behavioral disengagement. Moreover, starting from social control and anomy theory, we hypothesize that socio-economic influences on behavioral engagement are mediated by academic mindsets – belonging, purpose, hope, and self-efficacy. Multilevel analyses on the Ghent baseline data (2134 students, 30 schools) of the ISCY study, gathered in 2013-2014, show that especially subjective indicators of socio-economic disadvantage affect behavioral engagement directly. We initially observed an influence of unemployment composition, but this objective indicator’s influence was mediated by track position – which might be a finding specific to the Flemish situation. Individual feelings of deprivation and the school culture of economic deprivation at the school level both had a direct effect on behavioral engagement. This latter effect means more specifically that, when a general feeling exists among students of the same school that parents have financial problems, all students at school are more likely to disengage behaviorally. Contrary to expectations, these effects were not mediated by academic mindsets.

Jaar van publicatie:2015