An exploration of school mobility: Risks and protective factors in late elementary

Abstract

This study explored negative emotional, behavioral, and academic performance outcomes for highly mobile students and potential protective factors. Participants were fourth and fifth-grade students (N = 647, 51% male) from three schools with low socioeconomic status, highly mobile student populations within a large, suburban school district in the midwestern United States. Data were collected through student self-report surveys, teacher-report surveys, and school records. Multilevel moderation analysis tested whether school connectedness (SC) or social and emotional competence (SEC) acted as protective factors for highly mobile students, moderating the effect of school mobility on emotional problems and academic performance. Student mobility was associated with more emotional problems and lower academic performance. In contrast to past research, there was not an association between mobility and behavior problems. Although they did not act as protective factors, SC and SEC were independently associated with fewer emotional problems and stronger reading performance for all students, controlling for mobility. Results build on existing evidence that student mobility has negative effects on emotional and academic outcomes and lend support for interventions focused on enhancing SC and SEC of all students, including those at increased risk due to high mobility.

Parental Attachment and Peer Support as Moderators of Associations Between Childhood Mobility and Young Adult Sense of Belonging and Depression

“…Parental and peer relationships were expected to serve as moderators of the associations between residential moves, school transitions and outcome variables, but the forms of the interaction patterns were uncertain. Interaction patterns have not been explored in previous studies and a variety of possibilities could occur, which could account for the mixed bivariate associations in previous research (Anderson, 2017;Choi & Oishi, 2020;Cotton, 2016;Dinnen et al, 2020;Gillespie, 2015Gillespie, , 2017Humke & Schaefer, 1995;Jelleyman & Spencer, 2008). More positive relationships could just slightly soften the blow on outcome variables, or the buffering could be more complete.…”

“…The pattern is likely not an aberration, given that it occurred for six out of the eight interactions that were tested. The robust statistical and graphical regression methods that were used, provided more accurate depictions of nonlinear data patterns than do conventional methods, which have produced conflicting findings in previous studies (Anderson, 2017;Choi & Oishi, 2020;Cotton, 2016;Dinnen et al, 2020;Gillespie, 2015Gillespie, , 2017Humke & Schaefer, 1995;Jelleyman & Spencer, 2008).…”

“…A number of protective (moderating) factors have already been identified in the childhood mobility literature. School connectedness, caring student-teacher relationships, and emotional competence have been found to operate as protective factors for the emotional and academic performance problems that otherwise tend to occur among students who experience school transitions (Dinnen et al, 2020). Similarly, involvement in afterschool programs appears to protect against the negative impact of school transitions on students' academic achievement (Voight et al, 2020).…”