School Mobility as it Relates to Adolescents' Civic Knowledge and School Belonging

Abstract

The relation of school mobility to levels of adolescent civic knowledge and sense of belonging at school was examined using data collected from a nationally representative sample (N=2417) of 14-year-old adolescents from across the United States as a part of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study of 1999. Multiple linear regression revealed that higher mobility scores were associated with lower civic knowledge scores, civic knowledge scores were marginally higher for females than males, and having a higher socio-economic status was associated with higher civic knowledge scores. Further, low confidence in school participation was associated with higher school mobility, females had higher confidence in school participation than males, and having a higher socio-economic status was associated with higher confidence in school participation scores. Lower trust in schools was associated with higher school mobility, while gender and socio-economic status were not significantly related.