Social isolation and achievement of students with learning disabilities

Abstract

Students with learning disabilities (LDs) experience heightened levels of social isolation, but researchers have not fully explored its various dimensions at school or determined which aspects contribute to educational gaps associated with LDs. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we find that middle and high school students with LDs are more likely to experience most types of isolation. Student with LDs have fewer friends, their friends are less educationally ambitious, they feel more detached and disliked at school, and they are more likely to avoid friendships, though surprisingly not more likely to be actively rejected. Mediation analyses indicate that the aspect of social isolation that contributes most to the LD-gap in high school graduation is one's number of school friends and their educational expectations. Perceptions of social isolation are also consequential, and together these account for nearly one-quarter of the LD-gap in high school graduation, net of past grades.