The social context of risk: Status and motivational predictors of alienation in middle school.

This study investigated the relations among 2 sociological predictors of risk for school leaving (race and social class), motivational context, and behavioral indicators of withdrawal from school in a sample of 405 7th grade students. Students completed questionnaires to assess their perceptions of the 3 aspects of their school motivational context, including the academic expectations and support of teachers and peers and the economic opportunity structure. Behavioral indicators of alienation were teachers' ratings of engagement and students' disciplinary problems. Students with more indicators of potential risk (i.e., low-income, African American, or both) were less engaged, had more disciplinary problems, and perceived their motivational contexts as more negative than students with fewer risk factors. Motivational context variables were stronger predictors of alienation than were status variables and partially mediated the relations between status indicators of potential risk and signs of alienation from school.