Disproportionate School Punishment and Significant Life Outcomes: A Prospective Analysis of Black Youths
Year: 2021
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study tested relationships between racial inequalities in the school system-specifically, the disproportionate punishment of Black students-and life outcomes for Black youths, along with moderating psychological factors. In an 18-year longitudinal study of 261 Black youths (ages 11-29), we investigated whether adult life outcomes varied as a function of adolescent self-control and academic achievement. We tested whether relationships were moderated by the racial climates of the high schools that youths attended, using administrative data on relative punishment rates of Black and White students. Among Black youths who attended schools that disproportionately punished Black students, high self-control in early adolescence presaged higher academic orientation in late adolescence, which in turn predicted higher educational attainment, higher income, and better mental health in adulthood. However, among these same youths, higher academic orientation forecasted higher adult insulin resistance, a key process in cardiometabolic disease. These findings suggest that achieving successes in life in the face of racial inequalities may come at a physical health cost for Black youths.
Source: Psychological Science
Institutions: Northwestern University, University of Georgia
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Neuroscience, Immunology, Social Adversity and the Roots of Addictive Behaviors: Toward a New Framework for Drug Use Etiology and Prevention, Understanding Diverging Profiles of Academic and Physical Health Outcomes in African American Youth, Developmental, Contextual, and Psychosocial Predictors of Weathering and Health among Rural African Americans in their Fourth Decade of Life
OpenAlex ID: W3190267158