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    The impact of personal background and school contextual factors on academic competence and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary school transition

    200214_106691_The_impact_of_personal_background_.....pdf (200.2Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Vaz, Sharmila
    Parsons, Richard
    Falkmer, Torbjorn
    Passmore, Anne
    Falkmer, Marita
    Date
    2014
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Vaz, S. and Parsons, R. and Falkmer, T. and Passmore, A. and Falkmer, M. 2014. The impact of personal background and school contextual factors on academic competence and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary school transition. PLoS ONE. 9 (3): Article ID e89874.
    Source Title
    PLoS ONE
    DOI
    10.1371/journal.pone.0089874
    ISSN
    1932-6203
    School
    School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work
    Remarks

    This article is published under the Open Access publishing model and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Please refer to the licence to obtain terms for any further reuse or distribution of this work

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/16129
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Students negotiate the transition to secondary school in different ways. While some thrive on the opportunity, others are challenged. A prospective longitudinal design was used to determine the contribution of personal background and school contextual factors on academic competence (AC) and mental health functioning (MHF) of 266 students, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Data from 197 typically developing students and 69 students with a disability were analysed using hierarchical linear regression modelling. Both in primary and secondary school, students with a disability and from socially disadvantaged backgrounds gained poorer scores for AC and MHF than their typically developing and more affluent counterparts. Students who attended independent and mid-range sized primary schools had the highest concurrent AC. Those from independent primary schools had the lowest MHF. The primary school organisational model significantly influenced post-transition AC scores; with students from Kindergarten - Year 7 schools reporting the lowest scores, while those from the Kindergarten - Year 12 structure without middle school having the highest scores. Attending a school which used the Kindergarten - Year 12 with middle school structure was associated with a reduction in AC scores across the transition. Personal background factors accounted for the majority of the variability in post-transition AC and MHF. The contribution of school contextual factors was relatively minor. There is a potential opportunity for schools to provide support to disadvantaged students before the transition to secondary school, as they continue to be at a disadvantage after the transition.

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    • Factors affecting student adjustment as they transition from primary to secondary school: a longitudinal investigation
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      Transition from primary to secondary school occurs during the developmental period of early adolescence. Mixed findings exist across the literature on the effects of transition on student adjustment outcomes. This has led ...
    • Belongingness in early secondary school: Key factors that primary and secondary schools need to consider
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      © 2015 Vaz et al. It is unknown if, and how, students redefine their sense of school belongingness after negotiating the transition to secondary school. The current study used longitudinal data from 266 students with, and ...
    • Classroom environment and the transition to secondary schooling
      Hine, Paul (2001)
      This study was undertaken to investigate changes in classroom environment as students move between upper primary and lower secondary school in selected schools in South Australia. A new instrument, the Middle School ...
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