Often students are seen moving from school to school, and even from city to city. This kind of constant change can have major effects on that student’s achievement and emotional needs. Arguably, one of the most problematic parts of life transitions is the disruption of social relationships, especially early in the life course (Langenkamp, 2016). According to some researchers, changing schools, moving from one neighborhood to another, or both, disrupts students’ academic and social lives and can create additional anxiety for young students and it is important to understand that at which age a child begins to get affected (Anderson, 2017). Children who move schools often are more likely to have experienced peer problems. School mobility, in turn, appears to be a robust marker for psychotic symptoms in late adolescence. (Winsper et al., 2016). The impact that student mobility can have on a child needs to be examined more thoroughly to create strategies to combat those effects.
Student mobility is known to being a primary reason behind social awkwardness and lack of achievements by students. Parents, whose work can take them into different cities or a different part of the same city, generally take their children with them. Children, at a young age, have their whole social life in school and changing that plays a big part in their psychological development. In a new school, the child has to adjust to new conditions, make new friends, develop a social relationship with his or her classmates, to relearn all the social cues of the new environment, etc. and all this creates pressure on the young child (Herbers, 2013). The move can prove detrimental to the young child and may impede their psychological development and may show poor performance and lack of social activity at later age. This is due to the defining nature of the school life, and its ripples can be seen years later when the child becomes an adult (Winsper et al., 2016). We tackle this in the literature review of different studies regarding the effects of school mobility in children. We first understand the need for the studies by reviewing the literature and then we go through the methodology and findings. This literature review will help us understand the need to examine the effects of school mobility in children and prepare us to combat the effects.
Amy G. Langenkamp’s study to see the effects of school transfers is mainly concentrated on the adolescent children. Her goal for the study is to understand the effect of the recent transfer of students to a new school may affect their social relationships (Langenkamp, 2016). She concentrated on adolescent children because at that age, the child’s social relationships are beginning to develop and a sudden change in the environment may prove detrimental to their psychology. Along with the social relationships, Langenkamp also focuses on the academic change of the students because of the transfer. Logic says that children will have fewer friends at a new school and hence he or she will be more concentrated in the studies instead of other activities with friends. Many studies have proven this to be false, and Langenkamp takes this in to account. She uses more traditional methods to collect the data but also uses results based on propensity score matching techniques. She compares the results of both the methods to understand effects. The relationship of transferred students with the other fellow students and with the authoritative figures like teachers is also taken into account.
Sara Anderson’s study focuses the effects of a transfer on young children rather than the adolescent children the previously mentioned study concentrated on (Anderson, 2017). Anderson’s goal is to understand the effects of transfer but to find out that who it affects more and when. Her study takes into account two division of children: elementary students and middle school students. Her goal is to find out that at what age the transfer of school may affect the mental health of a kid and at what rate. She also takes into account the gender of the students as the social behavior of the two genders can be different. The academic performance of the recently transferred student is also observed along with the effects of trivial gifts or concessions to the new students are calculated. The social and mental effects of recent transfer students is a pre-requisite in the study but the focus is mainly on when is the child begins to get affected by the changed in their academic and social environment.
The above mentioned two studies mainly focus on the immediate psychological and social effect of the frequent transfer of schools in children of different age. Catherine Winsper and her fellow researchers focus more on the trajectory of these effects which may even continue till late adolescence (Winsper et al., 2016). The researchers take into account the immediate problems but hypothesize that these effects are manifested with age and can be the cause of psychological symptoms years after the said transfer. The researchers focused on this effect because the manifestation of risks over the years due to school mobility has mostly been unexplored by the scientific community. This research would provide them with answers to the behavior of children and see the early school mobility as a risk factor for later in life attitude.
Amy G. Langenkamp’s goal of the study is to identify the social and behavioral cues due to the recent transfer of the students. She takes into account the data collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and its academic component, the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement (AHAA) study (Langenkamp, 2016). The data collected by them is through direct contact with the students and parents in the form of interviews and school meetings. The AHAA also checks the academic performance of recently transferred students and both the results are correlated to find the total effect. The data collected through these means consist of thousands of students in public and private schools from various districts. This data can provide a comprehensive exploration of adolescents’ lives prior and after the transition into the new school.
Sara Anderson’s study is mainly focused on middle school students and hence takes into account the three-ecological context the child is connected to the family, the school, and the neighborhood (Anderson, 2017). Many of the school transfers are because of the move by the parents to a new location, and hence two out of three ecological contexts are affected by this transition. This disruption can severely affect a child’s psychology, and it is important to understand that at which age it affects the most. Anderson samples a mid-sized urban school district and compares the effect of transition between the elementary students and the adolescent students. This will help us understand that at which age a child develops social cues and is more emotionally affected by the sudden change in their ecological context.
Catherine Winsper and her fellow researchers’ study focused on the effects of school transition at an early age on old adolescent kids (Winsper et al., 2016). The study is meant to see if the effects of transition are manifested in the following years. Thousands of adolescents aged eighteen were ascertained by psychologists and were evaluated by interviews and other activities. Their academic performance is also taken into account from the time they were transferred. Parents were contacted to identify other sociodemographic factors like family adversity or ethnicity. The child’s years were tracked, and the events of bullying at a young age or school transition after that are noted. Any incidents of antisocial behavior are also recorded for the research purpose.
Langenkamp’s findings show that students report fewer friends and are affected academically by the recent transfer. The result also suggested that children, at a new school, look towards their teachers or other authoritative figures to get guidance and hence their closeness is increased. Hence, proper guidance from teachers can very well decrease the pressure on students after a recent transfer (Langenkamp, 2016). Anderson’s findings show that middle school children are more affected by the transfer than elementary school children. The result also showed that middle school girls are more affected than the boys due to recent transition. They tend to get depressed, and their academic performance is also reduced. But, the result also found that small concessions like free lunch can help students deal with the change (Anderson, 2017). Catherine Winsper and other researchers found that there is a direct correlation between school transfer at an early age and social and mental problem at the later stage of adolescence. School mobility can lead to peer problems and social anxiety in students. This seems to linger for years and becomes clear markers for psychotic symptoms in the late adolescence. This result would help doctors and psychologist to find an indicator or reason for the behavior of eighteen-year-old students (Winsper et al., 2016).
The three studies mentioned in the reviews not only prove the side effects of school transition on young children but also helps us find a better way to deal with these problems. We found out that early adolescence is the age where students start to get affected socially and academically by the recent transition. Girls are more mentally affected than the boys. Their social behavior, as well as their academic performance, is affected by the recent move. We also found out that these effects may linger and manifest through the years in the students. The studies also helped us find some solutions for these problems like teachers can play an important part in the adjustment of new students and psychologist can identify school transition as an indicator of trouble in later life. Hence, further studies are warranted to understand better the effects, and this information will help find strategies to better combat these problems in the future.
References
Anderson, S. (2017). School Mobility Among Middle School Students: When And For Whom Does It Matter? Psychology in the Schools, 54(5), 487-503. doi:10.1002/pits.22010
Herbers, J. E., Reynolds, A. J., & Chen, C. (2013, May). School Mobility and Developmental Outcomes in Young Adulthood. Retrieved November 26, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4139923/
Langenkamp, A. G. (2016). Effects of School Mobility on Adolescent Social Ties and Academic Adjustment. Youth & Society, 48(6), 810-833. doi:10.1177/0044118×13517908
Winsper, C., Wolke, D., Bryson, A., Thompson, A., & Singh, S. P. (2016). School mobility during childhood predicts psychotic symptoms in late adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(8), 957-966. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12572