Amidst a decline in exclusionary school discipline, the current study asks how a more holistic set of school discipline practices are associated with emerging adult well-being. We use original survey data from over 700 college-educated emerging adults to show that this sample can be categorized into three groups with unique school disciplinary histories—those who received minimal discipline, those who received primarily school-managed discipline, and those who received intensive discipline. These groups were distinguishable not just on the severity or exclusionary nature of discipline but also the involvement of parents, police, or support staff (e.g., counselors). After accounting for selection into these groups, we find that emerging adults with histories of both school-managed and intensive discipline reported lower well-being than their minimally-disciplined counterparts. Such findings demonstrate the reach of school discipline even to this relatively privileged sample and the need to think about discipline and its potential consequences more expansively.
American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on School Health. (2003). Out-of-school suspension and expulsion. American Academy of Pediatrics committee on school health. Pediatrics, 112(5), 1206–1209. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.112.5.1206
AnyonY.JensonJ. M.AltschulI.FarrarJ.McQueenJ.GreerE.DowningB.SimmonsJ. (2014). The persistent effect of race and the promise of alternatives to suspension in school discipline outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review, 44, 379–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.06.025
Bacher-HicksA.BillingsS. B.DemingD. J. (2019). The school to prison pipeline: Long-run impacts of school suspensions on adult crime (working paper 26257). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w26257
6.
BanksD. M.ScottB. G.WeemsC. F. (2018). Anxiety, hostile attributions, and differences in heart rate response to ambiguous situational vignettes in adolescents. Emotion, 18(2), 248–259. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000352
7.
BarnesJ. C.MotzR. T. (2018). Reducing racial inequalities in adulthood arrest by reducing inequalities in school discipline: Evidence from the school-to-prison pipeline. Developmental Psychology, 54(12), 2328–2340. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000613
BowditchC. (1993). Getting rid of troublemakers: High school disciplinary procedures and the production of dropouts. Social Problems, 40(4), 493–509. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.1993.40.4.03x0094p
12.
BoylanR. L.RenzulliL. (2017). Routes and reasons out, paths back: The influence of push and pull reasons for leaving school on students’ school reengagement. Youth and Society, 49(1), 46–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X14522078
13.
BraunS. S.RodgersC. R. R.LinskyA.GriffinC. B.BradshawC. P. (2023). The association between an equitable school climate and students’ psychosocial outcomes: The moderating roles of race and gender. School Psychology Review, 0(0), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2023.2192174
CohenS.KamarckT.MermelsteinR. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136404
16.
CruzR. A.FirestoneA. R.RodlJ. E. (2021). Disproportionality reduction in exclusionary school discipline: A best-evidence synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 91(3), 397–431. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654321995255
17.
CurranF. C. (2020). A matter of measurement: How different ways of measuring racial gaps in school discipline can yield drastically different conclusions about racial disparities in discipline. Educational Researcher, 49(5), 382–387. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x20923348
18.
DavisonM.PennerA.PennerE.Pharris-CiurejN.PorterS. R.RoseE.Shem-TovY.YooP. (2022). School discipline and racial disparities in early adulthood. Educational Researcher, 51(3), 231–234. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x211061732
19.
DennisonC. R.FinkeldeyJ. G. (2021). Self-reported experiences and consequences of unfair treatment by police. Criminology, 59(2), 254–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12269
20.
DodgeK. A. (2006). Translational science in action: Hostile attributional style and the development of aggressive behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 18(3), 791–814. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579406060391
21.
DuarteC. P.MosesC.BrownM.KajeepetaS.PrinsS. J.ScottJ.MujahidM. S. (2023). Punitive school discipline as a mechanism of structural marginalization with implications for health inequity: A systematic review of quantitative studies in the health and social sciences literature. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1519(1), 129–152. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14922
22.
DurrantJ.EnsomR. (2012). Physical punishment of children: Lessons from 20 years of research. Canadian Medical Association Journal: Canadian Medical Association Journal, 184(12), 1373–1377. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.101314
23.
EyllonM.SalhiC.GriffithJ. L.LincolnA. K. (2022). Exclusionary school discipline policies and mental health in a national sample of adolescents without histories of suspension or expulsion. Youth and Society, 54(1), 84–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X20959591
24.
FabeloT.ThompsonM. D.PlotkinM.CarmichaelD.MarchbanksM. P.BoothE. A. (2011). Breaking school rules: A statewide study of how school discipline relates to students’ success and juvenile justice involvement. Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Public Policy Research Institute, Texas A&M University. https://csgjusticecenter.org/publications/breaking-schools-rules/
25.
FelittiV. J.AndaR. F.NordenbergD.WilliamsonD. F.SpitzA. M.EdwardsV.KossM. P.MarksJ. S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8
GellerA.FaganJ.TylerT.LinkB. G. (2014). Aggressive policing and the mental health of young urban men. American Journal of Public Health, 104(12), 2321–2327. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302046
28.
GirvanE. J.McIntoshK.SmolkowskiK. (2019). Tail, tusk, and trunk: What different metrics reveal about racial disproportionality in school discipline. Educational Psychologist, 54(1), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2018.1537125
29.
GoodmanL. A. (2002). Latent class analysis: The empirical study of latent types, latent variables, and latent structures. In Latent class analysis (pp. 3–55). Cambridge University Press.
HemezP.BrentJ. J.MowenT. J. (2020). Exploring the school-to-prison pipeline: How school suspensions influence incarceration during young adulthood. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 18(3), 235–255. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204019880945
HuangF. L. (2018). Do Black students misbehave more? Investigating the differential involvement hypothesis and out-of-school suspensions. The Journal of Educational Research, 111(3), 284–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2016.1253538
34.
JacksonD.FahmyC.VaughnM. G.TestaA. (2019). Police stops among at-risk youth: Repercussions for mental health. Journal of Adolescent Health: Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 65(5), 627–632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.05.027
35.
JacksonD.TestaA.TodićJ.Leos-MartinezJ. (2022). Exclusionary school discipline during childhood and adolescent police encounters. Deviant Behavior, 43(5), 573–592. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2021.1891843
36.
JohnsonO.JabbariJ.WilliamsM.MarcucciO. (2019). Disparate impacts: Balancing the need for safe schools with racial equity in discipline. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 6(2), 162–169. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732219864707
KaufmanJ. S.JaserS. S.VaughanE. L.ReynoldsJ. S.Di DonatoJ.BernardS. N.Hernandez-BreretonM. (2010). Patterns in office referral data by grade, race/ethnicity and gender. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 12(1), 44–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300708329710
39.
KupchikA.CatlawT. J. (2015). Discipline and participation: The long-term effects of suspension and school security on the political and civic engagement of youth. Youth and Society, 47(1), 95–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X14544675
40.
LeeK. S.YangY. (2022). Educational attainment and emotional well-being in adolescence and adulthood. SSM. Mental health, 2, 100138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2022.100138
41.
LeeS.ChangH.IpK. I.OlsonS. L. (2019). Early socialization of hostile attribution bias: The roles of parental attributions, parental discipline, and child attributes. Social Development, 28(3), 549–563. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12349
42.
Leung-GagnéM.McCombsJ.ScottC.LosenD. (2022). Pushed out: Trends and disparities in out-of-school suspension. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/235.277
43.
LiuJ.HayesM. S.GershensonS. (2022). JUE Insight: From referrals to suspensions: New evidence on racial disparities in exclusionary discipline. Journal of Urban Economics, 103453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2022.103453
MowenT.BrentJ. (2016). School discipline as a turning point: The cumulative effect of suspension on arrest. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(5), 628–653. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427816643135
46.
MuñizJ. O. (2021). Exclusionary discipline policies, school-police partnerships, surveillance technologies and disproportionality: A review of the school to prison pipeline literature. The Urban Review, 53(5), 735–760. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-021-00595-1
47.
NicolA.MakA. S.MurrayK.WalkerI.BuckmasterD. (2020). The relationships between early maladaptive schemas and youth mental health: A systematic review. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 44(4), 715–751. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10092-6
48.
NovakA. (2018). The association between experiences of exclusionary discipline and justice system contact: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 40, 73–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.04.002
49.
Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education. (2021a). 2017-18 State and National Estimations. U.S. Department of Education. https://ocrdata.ed.gov/estimations/2017-2018
50.
Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education. (2021b). An overview of exclusionary discipline practices in public schools for the 2017-2018 school year. U.S. Department of Education. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/data.html
51.
OwensJ. (2022). Double jeopardy: Teacher biases, racialized organizations, and the production of racial/ethnic disparities in school discipline. American Sociological Review, 87(6), 1007–1048. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224221135810
52.
OwensJ.McLanahanS. S. (2020). Unpacking the drivers of racial disparities in school suspension and expulsion. Social forces; a scientific medium of social study and interpretation, 98(4), 1548–1577. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soz095
PierceH.JonesM. S.GibbsB. G. (2022). Early adverse childhood experiences and exclusionary discipline in high school. Social Science Research, 101, 102621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102621
55.
PrinsS. J.ShefnerR. T.KajeepetaS.LevyN.EsieP.MauroP. M. (2023). Longitudinal relationships among exclusionary school discipline, adolescent substance use, and adult arrest: Public health implications of the school-to-prison pipeline. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 251, 110949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.110949
56.
RadloffL. S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression Scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), 385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306
57.
ReboussinB. A.ReboussinD. M.LiangK. Y.AnthonyJ. C. (1998). Latent transition modeling of progression of health-risk behavior. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 33(4), 457–478. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr3304_2
58.
RiosV. M. (2011). Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys. nyu Press.
59.
RodriguezL. A.WelshR. O. (2022). The dimensions of school discipline: toward a comprehensive framework for measuring discipline patterns and outcomes in schools. Sage.
60.
RushtonJ. L.ForcierM.SchectmanR. M. (2002). Epidemiology of depressive symptoms in the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(2), 199–205. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200202000-00014
61.
SetterstenR.RayB. E. (2010). Not quite adults: Why 20-somethings are choosing a slower path to adulthood, and why it’s good for everyone. Random House Publishing Group.
62.
SkibaR. (2015). Interventions to address racial/ethnic disparities in school discipline: Can systems reform Be race-neutral? In BangsR.DavisL. E. (Eds.), Race and social problems: Restructuring inequality (pp. 107–124). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0863-9_7
63.
SkibaR.ReynoldsC. R.GrahamS.SherasP.ConoleyJ. C.Garcia-VazquezE. (2006). Are zero tolerance policies effective in the schools? An evidentiary review and recommendations. American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/zero-tolerance-report.pdf
ThomasK. J.SantoJ. B.da CunhaJ. M. (2019). The predictive value of school climate and teacher techniques on students’ just world beliefs: A comprehensive Brazilian sample. Social Psychology of Education, 22(5), 1239–1257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-019-09524-3
69.
TunçgençB.van MulukomV.NewsonM. (2023). Social bonds are related to health behaviors and positive well-being globally. Science Advances, 9(2), Article eadd3715. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.add3715
70.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. (2019). Beyond suspensions: Examining school discipline policies and connections to the school-to-prison pipeline for students of color with disabilities. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/2019/07-23-Beyond-Suspensions.pdf
71.
WellerB. E.BowenN. K.FaubertS. J. (2020). Latent class analysis: A guide to best practice. Journal of Black Psychology, 46(4), 287–311. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798420930932
72.
WelshR. O. (2022). School discipline in the age of COVID-19: Exploring patterns, policy, and practice considerations. Peabody Journal of Education, 97(3), 291–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2022.2079885
73.
WelshR. O. (2023). Navigating tensions in school discipline: Examining school leaders, teachers, and the conversion of referrals into suspensions. American Journal of Education, 129(2), 237–264. https://doi.org/10.1086/723064
74.
WinshipC.MorganS. L. (2014). Regression estimators of causal effects. In: counterfactuals and causal inference: Methods and principles for social research (2nd ed., pp. 188–225). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107587991.007
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
