SOCIOECONOMIC DISADVANTAGE, PROXIMAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERIENCES, AND SOCIOEMOTIONAL AND ACADEMIC ADJUSTMENT IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE - INVESTIGATION OF A MEDIATED EFFECTS MODEL

This study investigated interrelations among conditions of household s ocioeconomic disadvantage, proximal environmental experiences, and ada ptational outcomes in a sample of 398 middle grade, early adolescents from a predominantly poor, rural area. Findings indicated that levels of disadvantage were related to both socioemotional and academic adjus tment, with those from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds faring mos t poorly. Specifically, youth from homes in which adults were employed in low-income, unskilled occupations were found to have lower levels of school performance and achievement compared to those from homes in which adults were employed in higher paying semi-skilled or skilled/pr ofessional occupations. Further, youth from families in which neither parent had graduated from high school exhibited significantly worse so cioemotional and academic adjustment than did those whose parents had higher educational levels. Youth who lived in relatively disadvantaged homes also reported more negative experiences of proximal environment al conditions relating to family and school contexts and greater expos ure to stressful life events. Most notably, findings provided support for employing an ecological-mediational perspective to understand patt erns of linkage between socioeconomic disadvantage and levels of adjus tment. Support for this viewpoint included the finding that proximal e nvironmental experiences were significant predictors of adolescent adj ustment, independent of shared variance with conditions of household d isadvantage, whereas conditions of disadvantage in several instances w ere no longer related significantly to indices of adjustment once thei r association with proximal environmental conditions was taken into ac count. The discussion considers implications for the targeting and sco pe of ecologically oriented approaches to preventive intervention.