Supportive communication and school outcomes for academically “at‐risk” and other low income middle school students

This study explores the relationship between supportive communication and school outcomes for lower socioeconomic middle school students identified as “at‐risk”; and students not identified as “at‐risk”; of poor school performance. Results indicate that parents are major sources of social support for both groups of students; however, while parents are the only source of support for at‐risk middle school students, the not‐identified‐at‐risk students also receive support from their teachers and friends. With respect to school outcomes, different types of social support are associated with different outcomes. Also, students not identified as at‐risk appear to benefit more from the social support they receive than students identified as at‐risk. Teachers and other school personnel can use the findings of this investigation to develop intervention strategies that utilize the social support process to affect specific school outcomes for academically at‐risk students as well as for other students.