Epidemiology and Etiology: Exploring the Role of Social Inclusion within the Peer Group on Student Engagement in Kindergarten

This abstract was presented at the 2018 Society for Prevention Research Annual Meeting which was held May 29 – June 1, 2018 in Washington, DC, US.

Olivier Gaudet Université du Québec à Montréal

Marie-Claude Salvas University of Quebec in Outaouais; Isabelle Archambault Université de Montréal; Stéphane Cantin Université de Montréal; Frank Vitaro Université de Montréal; Fanny-Alexandra Guimond Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue; Julie Goulet Université de Montréal

Given that school success is considered as a priority in North America, several efforts are made to encourage all children’s academic achievement. Promoting student engagement at both the classroom and the schoolwide levels seems to be a valuable avenue in this context. Supporting this view, past research has shown that children’s classroom participation, attitudes towards the task, and interest in learning are likely to influence their school success. However, although early prevention has become a growing emphasis of researchers, very few studies have tracked student engagement during kindergarten, nor have they identified early contextual factors, such as children inclusion within the peer group (i.e., peer acceptance), that are likely to shape this developmental process over time. As conceptualized by ecological theorists, peer experiences are consistently identified as an important source of influence, but their unique relationship to student engagement has only recently been examined. As such, the first aim of the present study was to examine whether the children’s level of social inclusion within the peer group predicted their engagement by the end of kindergarten, while taking into account their initial level of engagement, social skills, and sex. The second aim was to test for potential moderating effects of these personal characteristics on this predictive association. 

Using a prospective, short-term longitudinal design, 396 pupils from ten elementary schools were assessed at the beginning (T1) and the end of kindergarten (T2). Children’s social inclusion (i.e. peer group acceptance level) was obtained at T1 through peer nominations. Student engagement and social skills were assessed by teacher at both time points. 

In bivariate analysis, being well-accepted by the peer group at the beginning of the school year was significantly associated with later student engagement toward school (r= .47, p< .001). After controlling for child characteristics at T1 (i.e. sex, social skills and engagement level), hierarchical multiple regressions analysis showed that peer group acceptance at T1 uniquely predicted student engagement at T2 (b= .10, p< .01). Moderation analysis indicated that no predictor interacted with peer acceptance at T1 in predicting student engagement at T2. 

In line with the ecological systems theory, these findings have implications for school prevention efforts in highlighting contextual forces that uniquely shape student engagement. It also supports the importance of peer level interventions that may be beneficial in promoting social inclusion, in addition to child level interventions.