The unintended consequence of school suspension: How school suspension impacted future grades and misconduct

Abstract

The goals of this study were to explore the mechanism via which school suspension leads to adverse academic and behavioral consequences. The author utilized the theoretical framework of general strain theory and assessed whether bonds with school, a prosocial bond preventing deviant outcomes, functioned as a mediator in the path between school suspension and students’ future performance. Based on four waves of longitudinal data of at-risk youth, the study employed structural equation modeling and bootstrapping methods to examine the nexus of suspension, perceived school environment, and adverse academic and behavioral outcomes. Findings revealed that school suspension deteriorated subsequent ratings of school environment among youth respondents. Further, an indirect effect between suspension and worsening of grades was observed and this indirect effect resulted in low ratings of school environment. Although suspension directly predicted future misconduct, no mediation effect of school environment was identified in this link. Implications for intervention programming are discussed.