Transition matters: pupils’ experiences of the primary–secondary school transition in the West of Scotland and consequences for well‐being and attainment

Figures & data

Figure 1 Diagrammatic representation of predictors of (a) transition experiences, and (b) well‐being and attainment according to time (age) of data collection.

Figure 2 Transition experiences (school and peer concerns) – % reporting (very/quite) hard to cope at start of secondary school.

Table 1. Variation in transition experience (school and peer concerns) between primary and secondary schools – unadjusted school and individual level variance (and standard error) – n = 2034.

	School concerns	Peer concerns
Primary school
School level variance	0.021∗(0.010)	0.040∗(0.013)
Individual level variance	0.971(0.031)	0.960(0.031)
Secondary school
School level variance	0.004(0.005)	0.017∗(0.008)
Individual level variance	0.989(0.031)	0.982(0.031)
Note: ∗5% significance of variance indicated by a value greater than standard error × 1.65 (Snijders & Bosker 1999).

Table 2. Individual predictors of (poor) transitions (school and peer concerns) – univariate associations (standardised) – n = 2034.

	School concerns	Peer concerns
Sociodemographic (age 11)
Age (12 months)	−0.11	−0.11
Gender (Male)	−0.03	0.08
Social class (I)
II	0.01	0.02
IIIn	0.04	−0.05
IIIm	0.09	−0.10
IV	0.07	−0.15
V	0.15	−0.19
Missing	0.25	−0.05
Religion (Prot)
Catholic	−0.03	−0.03
Other	0.16	0.17
None	0.03	0.08
Missing	0.00	−0.05
Family (2 birth) (age 11)
Step	0.09	0.08
Lone	0.13∗	0.07
Parenting (age 11)
Control	0.08∗∗	0.09∗∗∗
Care	−0.06∗∗	−0.07∗∗
Personal attributes (age 11)
Maths ability (poor)	0.12∗∗∗	0.06∗∗
Anxiety	0.04∗	0.16∗∗∗
Aggression	0.07∗∗	−0.05∗
Self‐esteem	−0.12∗∗∗	−0.17∗∗∗
Bully victim	0.08∗∗	0.16∗∗∗
Disengagement	0.08∗∗	−0.05∗
(Un)prep secondary (age 13)	0.06∗∗	0.11∗∗∗
Pre sec experience (age 11)
Older sibs	−0.03	−0.02
Pals at sec	0.01	−0.12∗∗∗
Number of primaries	0.03	0.09∗∗∗
Primary school
Placing school	0.11	0.03
School roll	0.05	0.01
School policies	0.02	−0.01
Parental involvement	0.02	0.00
Peer group (class means [age 11])
Maths ability (poor)	−0.02	−0.03
Anxiety	−0.02	0.03
Aggression	−0.06∗	−0.06∗
Self‐esteem	−0.06∗	−0.05
Bully victim	−0.01	0.08∗∗
Disengagement	−0.04	−0.05
(un)prep secondary	0.02	0.08∗∗
Secondary school (age 13) Disengagement (pupil) (Contextual)	0.18∗∗∗	0.10∗∗
School roll	0.01	0.02
Ethos poor (researchers)	−0.03	0.01
Ethos poor (pupils)	0.05	0.03
Notes: All pre‐secondary variables measured at age 11 except preparedness for secondary school (13). Reference categories for categorical variables in parentheses.∗ p < 0.05; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗∗∗ p < 0.001.

Table 3. School and individual effects on transition experiences (school and peer concerns) – (standardized) – n = 2034.

	School concerns	Peer concerns
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
School level	0.021 ∗(0.010)	0.009(0.008)	0.008(0.008)	0.027 ∗(0.010)	0.019∗(0.009)	0.016∗(0.009)
Sociodemographic (age 11)
Age (12 months)	−0.10	−0.08	−0.10	−0.08	−0.07	−0.07
Gender (Male)	−0.03	−0.02	−0.03	0.01	0.01	0.01
Social class (I)
II	−0.03	−0.04	−0.06	−0.01	0.01	0.00
IIIn	−0.02	−0.01	−0.04	−0.04	−0.02	−0.03
IIIm	0.06	0.08	0.04	−0.08	−0.06	−0.07
IV	0.01	0.04	0.01	−0.14	−0.12	−0.13
V	0.07	0.12	0.07	−0.21	−0.21	−0.22
Missing	0.15	0.22	0.18	−0.14	−0.12	−0.14
Religion (Prot)
Catholic	−0.02	0.02	0.03	0.00	0.02	0.01
Other	0.16	0.13	0.13	0.06	0.06	0.06
None	0.02	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.00	−0.01
Missing	−0.12	−0.09	−0.12	0.03	0.04	0.02
Family (2 birth) (age 11)
Step	0.04	0.04	0.06	0.00	0.00	0.01
Lone	0.07	0.06	0.06	0.00	0.00	0.00
Parenting (age 11)
Control	0.04	0.04	0.04	0.04∗	0.04	0.04
Care	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00
Personal (age 11)
Maths ability (poor)	0.08∗∗	0.08∗∗	0.09∗∗	0.05	0.05	0.05
Anxiety	−0.01	0.00	−0.01	0.12∗∗∗	0.12∗∗∗	0.12∗∗∗
Aggression	0.00	0.02	0.01	−0.06∗	−0.05	−0.06∗
Self‐esteem	−0.08∗∗	−0.07∗∗	−0.06∗	−0.11∗∗∗	−0.11∗∗∗	−0.10∗∗∗
Bully victim	0.04	0.05∗	0.04	0.11∗∗∗	0.09∗∗∗	0.09∗∗∗
Disengagement	0.05∗	0.07∗∗	0.04	−0.06∗∗	−0.05∗	−0.06∗∗
(Un)prep secondary (age 13)	0.04∗	0.04	0.00	0.09∗∗∗	0.08∗∗	0.06∗∗
Pre sec experience (age 11)
Older sibs	−0.06	−0.05	−0.06	−0.04	−0.04	−0.05
Pals at sec	0.01	0.01	0.01	−0.08∗∗	−0.09∗∗	−0.09∗∗
Number of primaries	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.08∗∗	0.07∗∗	0.07∗∗
Primary school
Placing school		0.10	0.14		−0.03	−0.01
School roll		0.03	0.05		−0.05	−0.05
School policies		0.00	−0.01		−0.01	−0.02
Parental involvement		0.03	0.03		0.01	0.01
Peer group (class means [age 11])
School ability (poor)		−0.03	−0.04		−0.04	−0.05
Anxiety		−0.01	0.00		−0.01	−0.01
Aggression		−0.06∗	−0.04		−0.02	−0.01
Self‐esteem		−0.03	−0.03		−0.02	−0.02
Bully victim		−0.03	−0.03		0.05	0.05
Disengagement		−0.05	−0.05∗		−0.05	−0.05
(Un)prep secondary		0.00	−0.01		0.04	0.04
Secondary school (age 13)  Disengagement (pupil)  (contextual)			0.15∗∗∗			0.06∗∗
School roll			−0.02			0.00
Ethos poor (researchers)			0.00			0.04
Ethos poor (pupils)			0.03			0.02
Notes: As Table 2.∗ p < 0.05; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗∗∗ p < 0.001.

Table 4. Significant predictors of well‐being (ages 13 and 15) and attainment (Standard Grades) (standardised).

	Self‐esteem (β)	Depression (odds)	ASB (β)	Grades (β)
	13(n = 2039)	15(n = 1781)	13(n = 2127)	15(n = 1870)	13(n = 2088)	15(n = 1828)	(n = 1057)
Gender (Male)	−0.46∗∗∗	−0.50∗∗∗	2.13∗∗∗	3.06∗∗∗	−0.19∗∗∗	−0.19∗∗∗	0.12∗∗
Social class (I)
II	0.01	0.15	0.91	0.73	−0.01	0.00	−0.05
IIIn	−0.02	0.13	0.71	0.72	−0.14	−0.04	−0.20∗
IIIm	−0.05	0.13	0.71	0.72	−0.03	0.03	−0.39∗∗∗
IV	−0.01	0.23∗	0.71	0.87	−0.06	−0.06	−0.50∗∗∗
V	−0.06	0.16	1.03	0.65	−0.06	−0.02	−0.54∗∗∗
Missing	0.03	0.21	0.37∗	0.60	−0.08	−0.01	−0.69∗∗∗
Religion (Prot)
Catholic	0.10∗	0.04	0.97	1.37∗	0.05	0.07	0.00
Other	0.10	0.13	1.34	1.38	−0.12	−0.07	−0.04
None	−0.01	0.04	0.87	0.80	−0.02	0.00	0.07
Missing	0.07	−0.06	1.06	1.39	0.19∗	0.17	−0.17
Family (2 birth) (age 13/15)
Step	−0.11	0.11	1.47∗	1.32	0.08	0.10	−0.02
Lone	−0.01	0.01	1.03	1.31	0.04	0.10	−0.10
Parenting (age 13/15)
Control	−0.11∗∗∗	−0.11∗∗∗	1.15∗∗	1.08∗	0.01	0.01	−0.02
Care	0.09∗∗∗	0.10∗∗∗	0.88∗∗	0.82∗∗∗	−0.03	−0.09∗∗∗	−0.04
Personal (age 11)
Maths ability (poor)	0.00	− 0.03	0.93	0.94	0.01	−0.03	−0.41∗∗∗
Aggression	0.01	0.01	1.08	0.97	0.10∗∗∗	0.12∗∗∗	−0.13∗∗∗
PRIOR +	0.33∗∗∗	0.22∗∗∗	2.85∗∗∗	2.05∗∗∗	0.29∗∗∗	0.24∗∗∗
Bully victim	−0.01	−0.01	1.20∗∗	1.21∗∗	−0.03	−0.05	0.01
Disengagement	0.04∗	0.03	0.99	0.79∗∗	−0.06∗∗	−0.03	−0.03
(Un)prep secondary (age 13)	−0.06∗∗	−0.02	1.15	1.11	0.03	0.00	0.04
Pre sec experience (age 13)
Pals at sec	0.00	0.01	1.04	1.09	0.06∗∗	0.07∗∗	−0.02
Number of primaries	0.00	−0.03	0.98	0.89	0.02	0.05∗	−0.01
Primary school
Placing school	0.15∗∗	0.11	0.87	0.75	0.09	0.03	−0.17∗
School roll	−0.01	−0.01	1.03	1.05	−0.02	−0.02	0.06∗
Peer group (means [age 11])
Anxiety	−0.04∗	−0.03	1.00	1.12	−0.02	0.00	0.02
Aggression	−0.04∗	0.02	0.99	0.99	−0.03	−0.02	0.04
Disengagement	−0.01	0.01	1.10	0.89	0.02	0.02	0.06∗
Transition (age 13)
School	−0.06∗∗	−0.02	1.14∗	1.18∗∗	0.06∗∗	0.03	−0.06∗∗
Peers	−0.17∗∗∗	−0.07∗∗	1.35∗∗∗	1.33∗∗∗	−0.09∗∗∗	−0.09∗∗∗	0.03
Secondary school (age 13/15) Disengagement (pupil)	−0.19∗∗∗	−0.20∗∗	1.28∗∗	1.37∗∗∗	0.43∗∗∗	0.43∗∗	−0.16∗∗∗
Ethos poor (researchers)	0.01	0.01	0.98	1.26	−0.05∗∗	−0.01	0.02
Ethos poor (pupils)	0.01	0.01	0.86	0.85	−0.04	−0.02	−0.18∗∗
Note: Adjusted for all variables (as Tables 2 and 3).+ PRIOR = (age 11) self‐esteem, depression, ASB and Maths ability in relevant analyses.p <0.05; ∗∗ p<0.01; ∗∗∗ p<0.001.

Table 5. Significant predictors of well‐being (18/19) and attainment (Highers) (standardised).

	Self esteem (β)(n = 1050)	GHQ case (odds)(n = 1063)	Highers (β)(n = 1078)
Gender (Male)	−0.36∗∗∗	1.92∗∗	0.10∗
Social class (I)
II	0.27	0.70	−0.11
IIIn	0.31	1.33	−0.15
IIIm	0.28	0.77	−0.47∗∗∗
IV	0.24	1.04	−0.41∗∗∗
V	0.28	0.73	−0.40∗∗∗
Missing	0.34	0.75	−0.56∗∗∗
Family (2 birth) (age 15)
Step	−0.04	1.12	−0.07
Lone	0.02	1.58∗	−0.15∗
Parenting (age 15)
Control	−0.12∗∗	0.98	0.01
Care	0.02	0.84∗∗	−0.02
Personal attributes (age 11)
Maths ability (poor)	−0.01	0.93	−0.33∗∗∗
Anxiety	0.07∗	0.85	−0.04
Aggression	0.00	0.95	−0.10∗∗
PRIOR+	0.17∗∗∗	1.22
Bully victim	−0.02	1.30∗∗	0.04
(Un)prep secondary (age 13)	−0.06∗	1.27	0.08∗∗
Pre sec experience (age 11)
Number of primaries	0.07∗	1.13	−0.03
Peer group (class means[age 11])
Bully victim	0.02	0.49∗∗	−0.02
Transition (age 13)
School	−0.06∗	1.14	−0.05∗
Peers	−0.05	1.19∗	0.03
Secondary school (age 15) Disengagement (individual) (Contextual)	−0.14∗∗∗	1.02	−0.21∗∗∗
School roll	0.03	0.90	0.14∗∗
Ethos poor (researchers)	0.08∗	0.66∗	0.01
Ethos poor (pupils)	0.05	1.04	−0.15∗∗
Note: Adjusted for all variables (as Tables 2 and 3).+ PRIOR = (age 11) self‐esteem, depression and maths ability in relevant analyses.p <0.05; ∗∗ p<0.01; ∗∗∗ p<0.001.

Snijders , T. and Bosker , R. 1999 . Multilevel analysis , London : Sage .

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