How peer status and ability track shape behavioral disengagement over the transition from primary to secondary school

Abstract

The transition from primary to secondary school is often associated with an increase in behavioral disengagement, which undermines students' academic development. Prior studies examined the average development of behavioral disengagement across school transitions. This study examined how students' peer status in primary school and ability track in secondary school relate to trajectories of behavioral disengagement. We followed n = 1564 students who transitioned to secondary school across three time points: February/March, and May/June in students' final year of primary school and January/February, roughly 6 months after students transited to secondary school. Latent Growth Curve Analyses showed that on average, behavioral disengagement increased, but this increase mostly occurred before transitioning to secondary school. Peer status and track related to students' initial levels of behavioral disengagement, but not to their development in behavioral disengagement over the transition. Specifically, students who were viewed as more popular by peers, and students who ended up in the lowest track showed more behavioral disengagement in primary school, whereas students who were more accepted by peers were less disengaged in primary school.