Table 1.
Descriptive Statistics for Sixth-Grade Observations
| Variable | Suspended during Study |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never Suspended during Study | Suspended by Sixth Grade | Suspended after Sixth Grade | Full Sample at Sixth Grade | ||||||
|
| |||||||||
| M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | M | SD | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Friendship Nominations Lost Since Last Wave | |||||||||
| Number of nominations made last wave (0 to 7) | 3.69 | * | 2.57 | 3.44 | 2.62 | 2.83 | 2.41 | 3.58 | 2.57 |
| Mean proportion lost since last wavea (0 to 1) | .33 | * | .27 | .46 | .28 | .36 | .33 | .34 | .28 |
| Number of nominations received last wave (0 to 16) | 3.47 | *** | 2.72 | 2.62 | 2.40 | 2.42 | 2.65 | 3.29 | 2.71 |
| Mean proportion lost since last waveb (0 to 1) | .36 | ** | .32 | .60 | .34 | .38 | .37 | .38 | .33 |
| School Absence (ref: Never Missed 7+ days) | |||||||||
| Missed 7+ days of school in a year since fall of 6th grade | .19 | .40 | .20 | .40 | .22 | .42 | .20 | .40 | |
| Missed 7+ days of school in a year more than once since fall of 6th grade | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Weakened Institutional Attachment | |||||||||
| Low school attachment current wave (1 to 5) | 2.11 | ** | .85 | 2.50 | .83 | 2.31 | .97 | 2.16 | .87 |
| Low academic achievement current wave (z-score) | −.22 | *** | .81 | .35 | .91 | .19 | .95 | −.13 | .86 |
| Control Variables | |||||||||
| Male (ref: Female) | .43 | *** | .50 | .76 | .43 | .57 | .50 | .47 | .50 |
| Nonwhite (ref: Non-Hispanic white) | .10 | ** | .30 | .20 | .40 | .21 | .41 | .12 | .33 |
| Nominations made last wave no longer in school/study (log) | .17 | .34 | .26 | .41 | .20 | .38 | .18 | .35 | |
| Nominations received last wave no longer in school/study (log) | .22 | * | .36 | .11 | .27 | .17 | .35 | .21 | .36 |
| Racial composition of nominations made last wave all white | .69 | * | .46 | .51 | .50 | .63 | .49 | .67 | .47 |
| Racial composition of nominations received last wave all white | .71 | .45 | .62 | .49 | .74 | .44 | .71 | .46 | |
| Number of students in grade last wave (6 to 470) | 167.30 | 105.62 | 177.75 | 126.84 | 163.63 | 99.76 | 167.75 | 106.75 | |
| Transitioned to new school last wave | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Miles to school last wave (log) | 1.23 | .62 | 1.18 | .59 | 1.12 | .54 | 1.22 | .61 | |
| Special education services last wave | .17 | *** | .38 | .44 | .50 | .26 | .44 | .20 | .40 |
| Structured activities after school last wave (z-score) | −.09 | 1.02 | −.08 | .85 | −.29 | .78 | −.11 | .98 | |
| Unstructured socializing after school last wave (z-score) | −.12 | *** | .97 | .26 | 1.10 | .22 | 1.17 | −.06 | 1.01 |
| Any substance use last wave | .05 | ** | .21 | .13 | .34 | .11 | .32 | .06 | .68 |
| Delinquency variety score last wave (log) | .25 | *** | .45 | .73 | .67 | .44 | .60 | .31 | .51 |
| Frequency of school misbehavior last wave (log) | .27 | *** | .25 | .67 | .33 | .51 | .33 | .33 | .30 |
| Risk and sensation seeking last wave (1 to 5) | 1.82 | *** | .82 | 2.29 | .95 | 2.05 | .98 | 1.88 | .86 |
| Frequency of bully victimization last wave (log) | .27 | *** | .30 | .38 | .36 | .40 | .38 | .29 | .32 |
| Parental discipline last wave (1 to 5) | 3.73 | *** | .89 | 3.20 | 1.12 | 3.52 | .94 | 3.66 | .92 |
| Parental monitoring last wave (1 to 5) | 4.61 | *** | .51 | 4.28 | .65 | 4.48 | .51 | 4.57 | .53 |
| Parent education last wave (z-score) | −.01 | *** | 1.02 | −.28 | 1.15 | −.47 | .79 | −.07 | 1.02 |
| Household income last wave (log) | 10.78 | *** | .79 | 10.42 | .86 | 10.32 | .86 | 10.70 | .82 |
| Parent unemployment last wave | .11 | *** | .31 | .16 | .37 | .28 | .45 | .13 | .34 |
| Parent ever arrested (ninth grade only) | .14 | *** | .35 | .42 | .50 | .29 | .46 | .18 | .38 |
| Mother relationship transitions last wave (0 to 8) | 1.97 | 1.45 | 2.24 | 1.71 | 2.17 | 1.39 | 2.01 | 1.46 | |
| Children in household last wave (0 to 8) | 2.45 | 1.03 | 2.75 | 1.32 | 2.31 | .91 | 2.46 | 1.05 | |
| Mother depression last wave | .23 | *** | .42 | .40 | .49 | .40 | .49 | .26 | .44 |
| Religiosity last wave (1 to 6) | 3.98 | *** | 1.77 | 3.53 | 1.73 | 3.22 | 1.81 | 3.86 | 1.78 |
| Years in current residence last wave (0 to 19) | 6.40 | *** | 4.08 | 5.16 | 3.93 | 4.93 | 3.69 | 6.15 | 4.06 |
| Community cohesion last wave (z-score) | −.01 | ** | 1.03 | .17 | 1.09 | .39 | 1.04 | .05 | 1.04 |
| N of Students (Unweighted) | 561 | 55 | 72 | 688 | |||||
NOTES: PROSPER sample limited to 2,373 observations of 766 in-home survey participants meeting the following criteria: attending participating school district, participated in the in-school survey, valid data on suspension. Only sixth-grade observations are shown here (n=688). Control variable for current grade not shown. Results based on first of 20 multiply imputed datasets. Independent samples t-tests compare ever-suspended students (those in either of the middle two categories) to never-suspended students.
Of those who made nominations last wave (n=444 non-suspended, 42 suspended by sixth, 53 suspended after sixth, 539 total)
Of those who received nominations last wave (n=500 non-suspended, 44 suspended by sixth, 57 suspended after sixth, 601 total)
ABBREVIATIONS: M = mean; SD = standard deviation
p<.001
p<.01
p<.05 (two-tailed)