The Influence of Negative Life Events and Problem Behavior on Grades in Early Adolescence: Pathways to Academic Risk in the Middle Grades

Figures & data

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics (Means and SDs) for all Continuous Items in the Study

	Range	Boys 8	Girls 8	Boys 10	Girls 10
Parental education
Mother’s education	1–6	4.34 (1.60)	4.22 (1.63)	4.07 (1.58)	3.89 (1.59)
Father’s education	1–6	4.20 (1.70)	4.17 (1.70)	3.83 (1.63)	3.73 (1.64)
Problem behavior
Broke the rules at home	1–4	1.49 (0.69)	1.39 (0.65)	1.53 (0.72)	1.47 (0.70)
Broke the rules in school	1–4	1.69 (0.77)	1.32 (0.61)	1.65 (0.79)	1.34 (0.61)
Got into a fight	1–4	1.30 (0.61)	1.10 (0.41)	1.19 (0.51)	1.08 (0.37)
Truancy	1–4	1.18 (0.53)	1.32 (0.47)	1.22 (0.59)	1.19 (0.53)
Ran away from home	1–4	1.06 (0.33)	1.05 (0.31)	1.05 (0.34)	1.05 (0.32)
Got into trouble for lying and stealing	1–4	1.15 (0.48)	1.12 (0.42)	1.12 (0.43)	1.11 (0.40)
Grades
Icelandic	1–8	5.48 (1.46)	6.03 (1.33)	5.05 (1.57)	5.72 (1.40)
Mathematics	1–8	5.74 (1.69)	5.74 (1.77)	5.22 (1.80)	5.61 (1.78)
English	1–8	5.99 (1.59)	6.06 (1.55)	5.98 (1.55)	6.09 (1.42)
Danish (or other Scandinavian)	1–8	5.23 (1.79)	6.01 (1.54)	4.85 (1.83)	5.81 (1.66)

Table 2 Frequency of Individual NLEs for all Subgroups in the Study*

	Boys 8 (%)			Girls 8 (%)			Boys 10 (%)			Girls 10 (%)
	30d	12m	More	30d	12m	More	30d	12m	More	30d	12m	More
Serious accident	3.3	5.0	14.6	1.6	3.8	9.6	2.7	5.7	12.7	0.9	2.7	8.7
Severe illness	3.5	3.5	7.9	3.1	4.0	6.3	2.9	3.8	8.0	3.5	3.9	8.8
Parental separation or divorce	14.2	2.1	1.0	17.4	2.2	1.2	16.5	1.4	1.0	20.1	2.4	0.9
Serious argum. with parents	5.4	6.5	5.2	8.2	8.9	6.3	6.0	8.8	7.4	10.4	14.4	8.1
Witn. serious argum. by parents	2.8	3.9	6.1	3.2	5.6	8.3	2.5	4.9	7.7	3.6	8.4	10.7
Witn. phys. violence at home	1.5	1.3	1.8	1.0	1.6	2.2	1.2	1.2	2.3	0.7	1.8	3.5
Involved in phys. viol. at home	1.1	1.4	1.6	1.1	1.4	1.6	0.8	1.2	2.7	0.7	1.6	2.7
Death of a parent or sibling	0.6	1.3	3.1	0.6	0.8	3.2	0.8	1.1	3.2	0.1	0.7	2.4
Death of a friend	1.4	3.1	3.4	1.4	5.0	2.7	1.1	3.0	3.7	1.4	3.0	3.5
A break up with a girl/boy friend	4.6	10.5	9.0	4.6	9.8	7.3	4.0	10.0	7.4	4.9	14.1	6.8
Rejected by friends	5.1	4.9	7.5	9.5	11.2	11.1	3.9	6.5	6.7	7.1	13.2	11.8
Separation from a friend	4.3	5.8	8.7	6.9	13.7	13.5	4.4	9.6	9.6	7.0	17.7	17.0
Father/Mother lost a job	1.0	3.9	5.8	1.7	4.3	7.9	1.3	5.0	6.5	0.9	6.6	8.9
Expelled from school	0.7	0.9	1.8	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.6	1.2	2.1	0.2	0.3	0.7
Sexual abuse by an adult	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.4	0.8	2.2	0.4	0.3	0.8	0.2	1.4	3.0
Sexual abuse by a peer	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.6	1.6	1.5	0.7	0.6	0.8	0.5	1.9	3.2

Note. *Although it is uncommon for respondents to mark more than one response category within each NLE, response categories are not exclusive.

Table 3 Experiencing at least One Exposure to an NLE during the Period

	Boys 8 (%)			Girls 8 (%)			Boys 10 (%)			Girls 10 (%)
	30d	12m	Ever	30d	12m	Ever	30d	12m	Ever	30d	12m	Ever
All NLEs	21.9	43.4	62.1	26.4	50.3	70.2	19.8	45.0	64.4	27.4	58.5	75.4
High intensity NLEs	1.4	3.1	6.2	1.3	3.7	9.2	1.1	2.7	6.7	0.7	3.9	10.4

Note. Rates do not reflect multiple exposures to NLEs during the period.

Table 4 Standardized Regression Weights for all SEMs, Taking Account of Proximity and Intensity of NLEs

	NLR proximity				NLE intensity
	B8	G8	B10	G10	B8	G8	B10	G10
NLEs → Problem behavior	.47**	.40**	.42**	.63**	.47**	.40**	.44**	.59**
NLEs → Grades	–.01	–.08*	–.06	–.10*	.00	–.04	–.07	–.10*
Problem behavior → Grades	–.28**	–.25**	–.22**	–.27**	–.29**	–.26**	–.22**	–.28**

Note. *p < .05, **p < .01

Table 5 Variance Explained (%) for Problem Behavior and Academic Grades

	NLE proximity				NLE intensity
	B8	G8	B10	G10	B8	G8	B10	G10
Problem behavior	22	16	18	39	23	16	19	34
Grades	09	08	08	13	09	08	08	13

Table 6 Mediation of NLEs → Grades through Problem Behavior

	NLE proximity				NLE intensity
	B8	G8	B10	G10	B8	G8	B10	G10
Standardized total effects	–.14	–.18	–.16	–.27	–.13	–.15	–.16	–.27
Standardized indirect effects	–.13	–.10	.09	–.17	–.13	–.11	–.10	–.16
Mediation (%)	93	56	56	63	100	73	63	59

Figure 1 Proposed pathways in the final structural model