Keeping Kids in School: Promoting Interaction to Improve Retention, Behavior, and Performance Among African-American Youth in Urban High Schools

Background and Purpose: Inner city communities have a prevalence of mental health issues, and an over-representation of people of color (Chow et. al. 2003). Moreover, disparities exist amongst inner city youth in school and their use of mental health services within schools, particularly for African-American students (Cuellar & Coyle, 2020). Lack of insurance coverage, attribution of mental illness to culturally sanctioned belief systems, and limited access to culturally competent providers are observed barriers to mental health treatment for this population (Chow et. al 2003). These disparities can lead to disruptive participation in mental health treatment and disparate educational outcomes that can have dramatic effects on student academic performance and long-term development (Bruce, Getch, & Ziomek-Daigle, 2009). With a focus on academic achievement, this research will attempt to answer two main questions: 1) To what extent does engagement with mental health care services affect academic performance and attendance in urban schools?; and 2) Does the effect of engagement with preventative mental health care services on performance and attendance differ for African-American youth?

Methods: Non-probability purposive sampling was used to recruit high school students (N=310) across eight different “inner-city” high schools. Students completed a survey on their perceptions and actions regarding school safety and resource use. To maximize internal validity, survey items were adapted from previous efforts to operationalize school safety, student behavior, and academic performance. Multiple regression analyses were used to explore the proportion of variance in outcomes attributable to racial diversity and indicators of exposure to school safety when controlling for key covariates. Both main and interaction effects were estimated to gauge an understanding of how relationships identified might be different based on nominal characteristics among the sample.

Results: Mentoring programs were significantly and positively associated with attendance rate (B=2.21; SE=.65; p<.05) and overall GPA (B=.22; SE=.06; p<.05) for all students in the sample. Second, engagement level in counseling was significantly and positively associated with overall GPA (B=.06; SE=.02; p<.05). While no main effects were found between mentoring and behavior, mentorship for African-American youth was negatively associated with self-report of maladaptive behavior (B=-.81; SE=.28; p<.05). Building on this, peer mediation was negatively associated with self-report levels of victimization for the African-American subsample (B=-1.15; SE=.59; p<.05), but not the overall sample. Finally, data suggest for African-American students, engagement in peer mediation is significantly and positively associated with attendance rate (B=1.89; SE=.71; p<.05).

Conclusion and Implications: Findings suggest interventions like peer mediation might be most effective for improving the academic experience for students in inner-city schools, particularly those of color. While African-American youth were nearly twice less likely to use peer mediation compared to their white counterparts, data suggest utilization of culturally responsive peer-centered interventions might positively impact attendance, academic achievement, social involvement and the overall academic experience for a student of color. The utilization of peer mediation likely creates a positive social environment that will motivate students in inner-city schools to create positive changes through social interaction and involvement. Implications for policy, education, and research will be discussed.