Future Educational Aspiration for Child-Welfare Involved Youth: Importance of Connectedness

Background: As of 2017, it has been estimated that 7.5 million children were investigated for maltreatment in the U.S. Childhood maltreatment is likely to predict adverse educational outcomes, including low grades, grade retention, and school absence. Educational Aspiration, to have a consistently positive relationship with successful transition to adulthood, are worth investigating given the disadvantaged status of child welfare involved youth. Building on an ecological perspective on youth’s development, this study aims to examine the relationships between social connectedness (relationships with caregivers [RC], relationships with peers [RP], and school engagement [SG], respectively) and educational aspiration among child welfare involved youth. Specifically, we hypothesized that RC, RP, and SG would have impacts on youth’s educational aspiration. We further examined whether the different types of maltreatment have varying impacts on educational aspiration and are there any moderation effects between social connectedness and educational aspiration.

Methods: This study utilized the second-wave National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being II (NSCAW II). The analysis sample consisted of 614 youths (M_age = 12.5) investigated for different types of child maltreatment allegations (Physical abuse = 25.9%, Sexual abuse = 12.7%, Neglect = 23.9%). The majority were female (56.8%) and identified as Black (28.1%) or Hispanic (23.2%). We utilized a weighted logistic regression model to test the relationships between social connectedness and educational aspiration. RC, RP, SG were measured by modified versions of the Rochester Assessment (RAPS-SM), Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire, and extracted items from Drug Free Schools scales. Youth’s mental health condition, school achievement, and social-demographic background were included as covariates. The extended logistic models with interaction terms were applied to examine the moderating roles of entering adolescence, familial poverty, and maltreatment type.

Results: Children’s SG (p <.01, OR = 1.18, 95% CI [1.05, 1.34]) was the only significant predictor of social connectedness for educational aspiration, but RP (p =.42, OR = 1.02, 95% CI [.98, 1.06]) and RC (p =.19, OR = 5.48, 95% CI [.42, 71.49]) were not. There was no difference regarding the impacts of different maltreatment types on youth’s educational aspiration. Moreover, the impacts of school engagement on educational aspiration were more pronounced for pre-adolescence youth and those who experienced sexual abuse. It was also found that African American youth seemed to maintain higher educational aspiration than White and other youth.

Conclusions and Implications: This research fills a gap in the literature by exploring the association between connectedness and future educational aspiration among child welfare involved youth. While school engagement shows consistent impacts on future aspirations, caregiver connectedness and peer connectedness perform a limited role. Considering poor educational outcomes among child welfare involved youth, identifying youth with low school engagement is needed for services. Intervening early for pre-adolescence youth and youth experiencing sexual abuse could mitigate harmful impacts of trauma on later educational outcome. Moreover, social workers, keeping the social justice value in mind, should facilitate translating minority youth’s high aspirations into later success.