Social support as a buffer in the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic performance.

Abstract

Th e presen t stud y wa s an investigatio n of the potentia l moderatin g effec t of socia lsuppor t on academi c performanc e for students living in poverty . Data wer e col -lecte d in on e urba n middl e schoo l from 164 primaril y Hispani c student s usin g th eChil d an d Adolescen t Socia l Suppor t Scal e (CASSS ; Malecki , Demaray , & Elliott,2000 ) an d students ' cours e grad e poin t average s (GPA) . Regardin g socioeconomi cstatu s (SES), students were classified as lower-SES if they received free or re-duced-cos t lunches or higher-SES if they did not receive free or reduced-costlunches . First , fo r student s wit h highe r SES , correlationa l analyse s reveale d no sig-nifican t association s betwee n socia l suppor t an d academi c performanc e as mea -sure d by GPA . Alternatively, for students of lower SES, significant, moderateassociation s wer e foun d betwee n GP A score s an d socia l suppor t scores . Second , aspredicted , regressio n analyse s provide d evidenc e tha t socia l suppor t ma y moder -at e th e relationshi p betwee n povert y an d academi c performance . Implication s forschoo l psychologist s and suggestion s for future researc h are provided .