Pathways from family violence exposure to disruptive behavior and suspension in elementary school

Abstract

Suspension is associated with a host of negative outcomes, including future suspension and poor academic engagement. A number of demographic and behavioral factors, such as behaviors and race/ethnicity, have been found to predict a child’s risk of suspension, however factors in the family environment, such as family violence, have not been widely explored within this body of literature. The current study examined whether disruptive behaviors mediated the relationship between family violence exposure and suspension in elementary school using data from the age 8 wave of the LONGSCAN dataset. In this sample, 68% of children had been exposed to some sort of family violence and 6.6% of children had been suspended. The direct pathway from family violence to suspension was significant, as was the indirect pathway through disruptive behaviors, where children exposed to more family violence were more likely to exhibit disruptive behaviors and more likely to be suspended. In this sample, boys and African American students were also more likely to be suspended. These findings support the need for school-based responses that addresses both the impact of violence exposure and racial disparities within discussions of children’s outcomes.