What Counts When it Comes to School Enjoyment and Aspiration in the Middle Grades

Figures & data

Table 1 Student Level Demographics

Grade	Female	Male	White/Caucasian	Mixed race	Black/African American	Total students per grade
5	104 (46%)	120 (54%)	167 (75%)	26 (12%)	23 (10%)	224
6	194 (53%)	174 (47%)	247 (67%)	49 (13%)	47 (13%)	368
7	113 (51%)	107 (49%)	183 (83%)	18 (8%)	12 (6%)	220
8	110 (51%)	105 (49%)	184 (86%)	10 (5%)	18 (8%)	215

Table 2 School Level Demographics

School	Grade levels	Enrollment (# of students)	SES (% low income)	# of school counselors
School 1	6–8	115	72.17	1
School 2	6–8	574	66.38	2
School 3	6–8	257	77.04	1
School 4	5–8	632	47.15	2

Table 3 Factor Analysis Structure Matrix

	Factor loadings
Item	Academic	Mental health	Social skills	School support
Making friends	0.01	–0.09	–0.89	0.00
Fitting in at school	0.02	–0.05	–0.81	–0.04
Dealing with peer pressure	0.03	0.15	–0.57	0.00
Improving communication	0.11	–0.05	–0.75	0.00
Getting involved in school activities	0.15	0.04	–0.60	0.02
Dating or relationship issues	0.00	0.29	–0.40	–0.03
Concerns about alcohol … or drug use	0.06	0.39	–0.23	0.03
Helping myself (expressing …)	0.06	0.12	–0.66	0.03
Handling teasing or being bullied	–0.04	0.31	–0.51	0.08
Getting along w/other students …	0.12	0.04	–0.68	0.01
Getting along better with family …	0.18	0.12	–0.53	0.02
Feeling sad or depressed	–0.02	0.74	–0.09	–0.02
Feeling suicidal	–0.11	0.67	–0.13	–0.09
Grief over the loss of a loved one	0.11	0.63	0.05	0.05
Parental divorce or separation	0.01	0.66	0.02	0.05
Dealing with anger	0.19	0.58	–0.06	–0.06
Feeling stressed	0.14	0.64	–0.02	0.00
Skills for resolving conflicts	0.16	0.32	–0.34	0.00
Being more organized	0.72	–0.02	–0.01	–0.04
Managing my time better	0.77	0.03	0.01	–0.03
Improving study skills	0.83	0.06	0.09	–0.05
Reducing test anxiety	0.71	0.17	0.11	0.02
Improving test-taking skills	0.78	0.05	0.02	0.00
Understanding test scores …	0.65	0.01	–0.20	0.04
Understanding … best career options	0.64	–0.04	–0.18	0.05
Planning options after high school	0.62	–0.07	–0.17	0.03
Understanding my learning style …	0.74	–0.01	–0.16	0.01
Understanding grad … requirements	0.70	–0.07	–0.11	0.05
Counselor is available when needed …	0.00	0.05	0.05	0.74
Comfort … counselor … school concerns	0.03	0.12	0.07	0.78
Comfort … counselor personal concerns	–0.05	0.18	0.03	0.71
My classes keep me interested …	–0.12	–0.13	–0.17	0.62
My teachers are willing to help me …	0.05	–0.13	–0.05	0.73
School is involved in my education plan.	0.11	–0.09	0.07	0.72
Eigenvalues	11.68	2.06	1.44	3.17
% of variance	34.37	6.05	4.22	9.32

Note. Ellipses were used in the above table to indicate abbreviated item language. Bold text indicates which items were included on the factor.

Table 4 Logistic Regression Predicting School Enjoyment

	B	SE	Wald	p	Odds ratio
Age	–.13	.06	4.48	.03	0.88
Gender	–.31	.14	5.05	.02	0.74
Ethnicity	.16	.16	0.97	.32	1.18
Mental Health Needs	–.23	.10	5.47	.02	0.79
Social Skills Needs	.19	.11	3.30	.07	1.21
Academic/Career Needs	–.10	.09	1.20	.27	0.90
Perceived School Support	.92	.09	114.67	.00	2.51

Note. The dependent variable in this analysis is School Enjoyment, coded so that 0 = does not enjoy school and 1 = enjoys school. The independent variable Gender was coded so that 0 = male and 1 = female. Ethnicity was coded so that 0 = Non-white race and 1 = White race.

Table 5 Logistic Regression Predicting Academic Aspiration

	B	SE	Wald	p	Odds ratio
Age	.11	.08	2.03	.15	1.11
Gender	–.98	.18	29.62	.00	.38
Ethnicity	.10	.20	0.23	.63	1.10
Mental Health Needs	–.24	.12	3.97	.05	.79
Social Skills Needs	–.22	.13	2.99	.08	.80
Academic/Career Needs	.23	.11	4.33	.04	1.26
Perceived School Support	.89	.10	86.86	.00	2.43

Note. The dependent variable in this analysis is academic aspiration, coded so that 0 = does not plan to continue education after high school and 1 = plans to continue education after high school. The independent variable gender was coded so that 0 = male and 1 = female. Ethnicity was coded so that 0 = non-White race and 1 = White race.