NCJ Number
97238
Date Published
1982
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This chapter characterizes multisuspended, junior high school (MS-JHS) students and compares behaviorally and academically deviant youth to school disruptive youth. Customary behavioral outcomes for seriously disruptive students are presented and assessed.
Abstract
In a 1972 survey based on an examination of school records, 75 MS-JHS students were compared to 75 age-, sex-, and area-matched controls who were not multisuspended. Both groups attended junior high schools in working class areas. Data for this article were obtained from this and similar surveys. High risk patterns of multisuspended students are reported. Attention focuses on the prevalence of grade failure (65 percent); of underachievement; of lower intelligence quotients; and of prior difficulties in school behavior, temperament, grades, and attendance. Additionally, MS students are shown to come from large families, to be absent for approximately 30 percent of the school year, and to be referred to the office for misconduct between 9 and 12 times per year, as compared to .9 times for control students. Blacks are shown to be suspended twice as often as whites, and males to be suspended 2 to 3 times more frequently than females. Disciplinary withdrawal, school dropout, and delinquency rates for JHS-MS students are discussed. Five categories where behaviorally and academically deviant adolescents overlap are described: truants, underachievers, dropouts, delinquents, and students in learning disability classes. Customary behavioral outcome for youths with behavioral disorders are addressed, and subgroups of misbehaving youth are characterized: hyperactive-aggressive youth, youth who steal, youth with serious school and home misconduct, youth with an early age of onset of symptoms, youth with prominent academic underachievement, and youth who abuse drugs. Finally, reasons for classifying student disruptiveness are explored. Ninety references are included.