The moderating influence of school context on emotional-behavioral adjustment among immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents

Citation

Georgiades, Katholiki; Boyle, Michael; & H (2008). The moderating influence of school context on emotional-behavioral adjustment among immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents. 2008 Add Health Users Conference. Bethesda, MD: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Population Center.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the moderating influence of school context on the association between student immigrant status and emotional behavioral adjustment. Method: Data for analyses come from the In-School Survey of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The sample includes 141 schools and 62,756 adolescents. Two dependent variables are examined: depression (a=0.88) and problem behavior (a=0.82). We address the study objective using multilevel modeling and hypothesize large school-to-school variation in the association between student immigrant status and emotional behavioral adjustment with divergent influences of school immigrant density accounting for this variation. Random regression coefficients (slopes) and the cross level interaction of school immigrant density by student immigrant status are used to examine the modifying effects of school context. Results: Preliminary results indicate large and statistically significant school to school variability in the association between student immigrant status and problem behavior (random slopes 95% CI: 4.07 to 3.38). Explaining 30% of this school to school variability is a cross level interaction between school immigrant density and student immigrant status: among immigrant students, there is a negative association between immigrant density and problem behavior; among non immigrant students, there is no association. School belongingness exhibits a negative association with problem behavior, accounts for an additional 21% in the random slopes and reduces the cross level interaction by 15%. The pattern of findings for depression is similar to those for problem behavior.

URL

https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/docs/news/users-conference/2008%20Add%20Health%20Users%20Conference%20Abstracts.pdf

Keyword(s)

School

Reference Type

Conference proceeding

Book Title

2008 Add Health Users Conference

Author(s)

Georgiades, Katholiki
Boyle, Michael
H

Year Published

2008

Publisher

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Population Center

City of Publication

Bethesda, MD

Reference ID

6317