Social, Personality, and Gender Differences in At-Risk and Not-At-Risk Sixth-Grade Students

Abstract

Research has been presented that identifies in-school factors associated with at-risk adolescent students, but less attention has been given to the social-psychological perceptions that these students hold about themselves and their school experiences. Knowledge of these social-psychological perceptions can be used for designing at-risk prevention and intervention programs. This study examined differences between 219 at-risk sixth-grade students and 218 students who were not defined as at risk on four social-psychological domains: attitudes toward school, self-concept, locus of control, and parent-child relations. The results showed that at-risk students had significantly less positive attitudes toward their school experience, lower self-concepts, more external control orientations, and viewed their parents as less demanding and more casual in their expectations. Female at-risk students tended to have more positive attitudes toward school and viewed their mothers as more loving than did male at-risk students. Implications are presented for planning programs to assist at-risk middle school students.