Adolescents with less stable childhoods tend to be more at an academic disadvantage at more rigorous high schools than at those with less academic pressure, says a paper in the January issue of the Sociology of Education.
The researchers categorized 144 schools based on their levels of “academic press” and on their students’ exposure to family instability, as measured by the number of students who had experienced a family divorce before age 4.
The authors write that their results back a “mismatch” hypothesis, as students with more exposure to family instability fared worse, academically, in schools with high academic pressure, than in other types of schools.
