A longitudinal study of the relationship between adolescent academic achievement and adult community participation

Abstract

A theoretically informed model in estimated in which low schoo achievement is specified as heaving long term consequences for adult participation in the political process and voluntary organizations. The model was estimated with the LISREL VIII program using panel data from subjects (N=4,531) tested in the seventh grade and again as young adults. As hypothesized, low school achievement had adverse effects on later adult involvement in the political process and voluntary associations. The effects of low school achievement were mediated by later educational attainment and were independent of the effects of perceived rejection by school authorities, suggesting that later social participation is influenced by experiences inherent in the education process itself rather than by socioemotional concomitants of school failure.