Socioeconomic status and school adjustment trajectories among academically at-risk students: The mediating role of parental school-based involvement

Abstract

This study examined whether and how parental school-based involvement mediated the effect of early family socioeconomic status (SES) on the development of four dimensions of school adjustment, namely academic achievement, classroom engagement, teacher-student relationship, and peer relationship. Latent growth modeling and longitudinal mediation analyses were conducted with a sample of 784 academically at-risk students from Grades 1 to 5. Results revealed that higher SES predicted higher levels of each of the four dimensions of school adjustment in Grade 1, effects that were mediated by Grade 1 parental school-based involvement. SES did not predict growth in parental involvement and school adjustment outcomes. These findings highlight the negative cascading processes by which low SES predicts low parental school-based involvement in early elementary school, which heightens the developmental risks in school adjustment in both the academic and social domains in academically at-risk students.