Comparing social, emotional, and behavioral health risks among youth attending public versus parochial schools

ABSTRACT

Parochial schools are assumed to provide better social and academic experiences; however, few studies account for selection bias when comparing with public schools. This study contrasted public versus parochial schools using propensity score matching across a range of outcomes (e.g., perceptions of school, emotional symptoms, substance use, bullying). Using a sample of 58 public and 5 parochial high schools, the nonmatched analyses suggested a significant advantage for parochial schools students (e.g., better on 23 of 32 indicators). However, the propensity score matched analyses revealed nine differences (e.g., weapon carrying, smoking), two of which (i.e., stress and cyberbullying) favored public schools. While at first glance parochial schools generally appear to be healthier and safer learning environments, accounting for selection bias, the gap was narrowed. Students in parochial schools may struggle with issues related to social, emotional, and behavioral health risk, and thus prevention programs should also be implemented in these settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Public schools
• private schools
• climate
• substance use
• bullying

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Education; William T. Grant Foundation.

Notes

1. Given the number schools per type (i.e., parochial, public) were not balanced we ran sensitivity analyses to ensure that the unequal sample sizes did not affect the results. Utilizing a random sampling of public school students to balance (only in numbers of people) to the parochial schools we ran the same analyses and results were consistent with utilizing the full sample.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Education; William T. Grant Foundation.