Longitudinal examination of relationships between problem behaviors and academic achievement in young adolescents

AbstractA substantial body of research has documented associations between a variety of problem behaviors and academic achievement measures. A systemic viewpoint posits that behavioral and academic problems exert reciprocal influences on one another, which, over time, can negatively affect the development of individuals and their environments. However, the results of these studies should be interpreted cautiously, given the considerable comorbidity of problem behaviors that often exists among school-age youth. Another limitation is that those associations mostly are documented in cross-sectional studies. This longitudinal study addressed the relationships between internalizing and externalizing self-reported problem behavior syndromes (withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety/depression, delinquent behavior, and aggressive behavior) and mean measures of academic achievement (overall, mean score of reading & spelling, and arithmetic performance). We found some interaction effects of problem behavior, gender and grade on academic achievement. First, we found a decrease of academic achievement trough grades 6 to 8, among girls who exhibit less aggressiveness, while academic achievement among ones that are “more” aggressive stays the same across grades. Academic achievement among girls is pretty much the same across all grades, yet overall academic achievement is higher in non-delinquent group in all age groups Secondly, in boys group there is a decrease of academic achievement trough grades 6 to 8 among boys who show more aggressiveness, while academic achievement among boys who exhibit less aggressiveness stays the same across grades. The significant multivariate effect of “grade”, “gender” and delinquency interaction indicates that there is a decrease of academic achievement across grades in both boys group, yet the decrease among boys showing more delinquent behaviors is bigger than among the normal boys group