Gender Differences in Patterns of School Victimization and Problem Behaviors During Middle School and Their Relation to High School Graduation

Abstract

Victimization and problem behaviors during middle school detrimentally influence student learning. However, less is known about how they may cooccur and collectively affect high school graduation and whether the interrelationships vary by gender. Using data from a nationally representative cohort of seventh-grade students from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997; N = 1,009), latent class analyses identified three groups among boys and two among girls. Results indicated that 50% of boys in the high-risk group (high victimization and problem behaviors) did not graduate from high school on time. Furthermore, boys in the moderate-risk group (high victimization, low problem behaviors) graduated from high school on time at a rate comparable with the low-risk boys. Two groups emerged for girls (i.e., low vs. high risk) in which each corresponds to graduation in an expected direction. Findings from this study underscore the importance of gender differences in intervention efforts, especially during middle school.