Growing Up Fragile and Achieving Despite the Odds: A Longitudinal Study of Material Hardship on Adolescent Academic Success

Abstract

Introduction: As income stratification increases in the US, education outcomes stratify and poverty begets poverty. Low income Black adolescent academic outcomes are reduced in poor children as compared to their wealthier peers, and reduced in Blacks at all income levels compared to their White peers at the same income levels. There is evidence to indicate that some are able to ‘beat the odds’ and succeed despite their socioeconomic status. Existing literature has found the adverse effects of poverty on child development and the effects of early exposure to material hardship on early childhood outcomes. However, the literature has not explored the effects of material hardship on academic outcomes of adolescents, net of poverty and economic status. This thesis aims to examine the association between exposure to material hardship at a young age and adolescent academic outcomes to see whether lack of material hardship is a protective factor that increases the odds of a low income Black adolescent succeeding academically. Methods: This quantitative study uses the Fragile Families Database, a longitudinal, survey-based study of children born to economically fragile families in cities across the US and their families. The study assess the association between exposure to material hardship at age 3 and academic achievement at age 15 among the cohort of Black adolescents, 200% and below the poverty level. Data was analyzed from three points in time: baseline (child’s birth), child’s third year, and child’s 15th year. Demographics were collected from the mother at baseline, material hardship survey questions were collected from the mother at year 3, and academic achievement survey questions were collected from the adolescent at year 15. Descriptive statistics, to describe the data, and logistic regression models, to assess material hardship and academic outcomes, were used. Results: Fifty-one percent of the adolescents in my sample experienced one or more material hardships (n=484). The most commonly experienced material hardships were not paying full bills (27%) and having the phone disconnected (29%). Analysis showed that the absence of material hardship at age 3 was associated with a number of positive academic outcomes such as optimal schoolwork perseverance, optimal overall perseverance, and optimal English grade point average (GPA). Specifically, absence of utility and housing hardship were associated with optimal overall and school perseverance, and absence of food hardship was associated with high English GPA. Conclusion: These data suggest that lacking material hardship serves as a protective factor in child development in that it helps fragile, low-income children ‘beat the odds’ and achieve academic success despite their low-income status. Material hardship can cause increased stress in parents and young children due to utilities being shut off, having insecure housing, or not having enough to eat. While poverty can increase people’s chances of facing hardship, the experience of hardship by low income families can be mitigated. When young children have solid resources and stability in their home environment, they have more energy to devote to developing properly, and their parents experience less stress and are able to place more energy into parenting and more resources to encourage their child’s development and success. Thus policy implications include lowering instances of material hardships through subsidies to families with children and providing refuge to adolescents who face hardships at home by providing additional resources at school.