Abstract
Accumulated disadvantage (AD) is conceptualised here as an agglomeration of unfavourable or prejudicial conditions which in adolescence may compromise the progress to further education or future life chances. There are several theories on AD, suggesting, e.g., (1) an increase of AD by age and (2) trajectories (previous disadvantage predicts later disadvantage). Social pathways theory suggests that (3) a third factor (e.g., socioeconomic position, SEP) mediates or moderates the association between early and later disadvantage, while other theories imply (4) polarisation (a strengthening association between AD and SEP by age) or (5) equalisation (a weakening of association between AD and SEP). We apply these theories to longitudinal data of 7th graders (13 years, N = 5742), followed until the end of the 9th grade. Five dimensions of disadvantage were health (poor self-rated health), social behaviour (poor prosocial behaviour), normative (conduct disorders), educational (poor academic achievement), and economic (parental unemployment). The results show that the prevalence of AD increased over the follow-up as most indicators of disadvantage elevated. AD at the 7th grade predicted later AD, as did the SEP of the students. Moderation of AD by SEP was also observed. The study corroborates with hypotheses on increase of AD, trajectory, and social pathways but no signs of polarisation or equalisation were observed.
Highlights
Accumulated disadvantage (AD) may be conceptualised as a simultaneous agglomeration of unfavourable or prejudicial conditions
At the 7th grade, 63% of boys and 73% of girls did not report any form of disadvantage (Table 2)
The study shows that disadvantage accumulates already in early adolescence and that the prevalence of experiencing it increases by age
Summary
Accumulated disadvantage (AD) may be conceptualised as a simultaneous agglomeration of unfavourable or prejudicial conditions. Earlier studies on young people, disregard the AD by focusing either on individual forms of disadvantage or certain groups considered to be risky or extreme, such as school drop-outs, the so-called NEETs (young people not in education, employment, or training) or youth from poverty-high neighbourhoods [4]. Few studies have analysed AD empirically (exceptions include, [5,6]) and even fewer emphasise early adolescence even though adverse childhood conditions have been shown to be associated with several unfavourable outcomes later in life [7,8,9]. Given the relative lack of research on early adolescence, our interest here lies in assessing AD over the course of (comprehensive) lower secondary school, i.e., among those aged from 13 to 16, on average. The few earlier studies can be summed up to suggest that (1) accumulated disadvantage is heavily socially conditioned, (2) single forms of disadvantage tend to cluster (see [10,11]) and (3)
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