Pathways to High School Completion in a Multiethnic Sample:Opportunities & Risks

描述(由申请人提供)：这项竞争性续签申请的目的是在6000名学生中调查高中毕业的途径，这些学生目前正在被跟踪调查整个初中三年。大样本的种族非常多样化：大约30%的拉丁裔，20%的白人，其余的50%大致平均分配给非洲裔美国人、亚洲/太平洋岛民和认为自己是多种族的年轻人。样本是从加利福尼亚州南部和北部的26所中学的三个队列中招募的，这些学校的种族多样性存在系统性差异。6-8年级的纵向数据是 收集学生的社会和学业适应情况，以检验关于城市中学种族多样性的心理社会好处和挑战的假设。这是意料之中的 学生们将过渡到近100所种族多样性不同的高中。这个应用程序将以丰富的中学数据为起点，将高中过渡和高中毕业的途径作为一个发展过程进行考察。在9-12年级及以上一年的同一批学生身上，将收集评估初中期间学习的结构和高中时期更独特的新结构的数据。这项研究的高中阶段有三个具体目标。目标1考察了中学社会和学术历史如何预测关键的九年级过渡是顺利还是破坏性的程度。目标2考察了高中毕业的途径或中介机制，重点放在三种发展能力上：学业成就、心理健康和公民参与。关于学校种族多样性如何塑造每条发展道路的新假设得到了检验。目标3考察了肥胖和性取向等个人风险因素，以及可能扰乱成功道路的系统性学校风险因素，如严厉的纪律。通过利用现有的纵向样本，这项研究的长期目标是提供新的见解，了解有色人种青少年在不同种族多样性的城市初中和高中中面临的挑战，以及促进所有即将成年的年轻人进行强有力的学业准备、心理健康和公民参与的机制。在一个不断变化的人口结构正在重新定义关键青春期期间成功适应的意义的社会中，对初中和高中种族多样性的关注尤其及时。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this competing renewal application is to examine pathways to high school completion in a sample of 6000 students who are currently being followed across the three years of middle school. The large sample is very ethnically diverse: about 30% Latino, 20% White, with the remaining 50% approximately evenly divided between African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, and youth who identify as multiethnic. The sample was recruited in three cohorts from 26 middle schools in southern and northern California that systematically varied in ethnic diversity. Longitudinal data from 6th-8th grade are being gathered on students' social and academic adjustment to test hypotheses about the psychosocial benefits and challenges of ethnic diversity in urban middle schools. It is anticipated that the students will transition to close to 100 high schools that also vary in ethnic diversity. Using the rich middle school data as a starting point, this application will examine the high school transition and pathways to high school completion as a developmental process. Data assessing constructs studied during middle school and new constructs more unique to the high school years will be gathered on the same students from 9th-12th grade and one year beyond. The high school pathways phase of the research has three specific aims. Aim 1 examines how middle school social and academic history predicts the degree to which the critical 9th grade transition is smooth versus disruptive. Aim 2 examines pathways, or mediating mechanisms, to high school completion focusing on three developmental competencies: academic achievement, mental health, and civic engagement. Novel hypotheses are tested about the ways in which school ethnic diversity shapes each developmental pathway. Aim 3 examines individual risk factors, such as obesity and sexual orientation, and systemic school risk factors, such as harsh discipline, that can disrupt successful pathways. By capitalizing on an existing longitudinal sample, the long-term goal of this research is provide new insight into the challenges that adolescents of color face as they navigate urban middle schools and high schools that vary in ethnic diversity as well as the mechanisms that promote strong academic preparation, mental health, and civic engagement in all youth on the brink of young adulthood. The focus on ethnic diversity across middle and high school is especially timely in a society where changing demographics are redefining the meaning of successful adaptation during the critical adolescent years.