Elsevier

Social Science Research

Volume 101, January 2022, 102621
Social Science Research

Early adverse childhood experiences and exclusionary discipline in high school

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102621Get rights and content

Abstract

The use of school suspension and expulsion is a widespread phenomenon in American schools (Wallace et al., 2009; Owens and McLanahan, 2020). Yet, much of what we know about these exclusionary practices provide little insight into the personal biographies of the students themselves—specifically their histories of childhood trauma. Using measures of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), we examine the link between early ACEs (up to age 5) and school suspension/expulsion using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (1998–2010) (FFCWS). We find that a child with a cumulative ACE score are almost four times more likely to have been suspended or expelled. Importantly, this negative link persists even when accounting for factors known to be associated with ACEs and school discipline. This work offers new theoretical insight into how we understand discipline in school contexts and suggests the importance of trauma-informed interventions in the American education system.

Introduction

School suspension and expulsion is associated with numerous negative outcomes for children, such as lower educational achievement (Noltemeyer et al., 2015; Hwang, 2018), school avoidance, dropping out, involvement in the juvenile justice system (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2019; American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003), and later criminal involvement (Wolf and Kupchik, 2017, Hemez et al., 2020, see Welsh and Little, 2018 for a review). Yet, the use of these exclusionary practices in American schools has been widespread (Owens and McLanahan, 2020). As of 2016, the proportion of all public K-12 students ever suspended or expelled was about 6% (or 2.7 million) (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2019) with nearly one-third of all students experiencing suspension in their school careers (Shollenberger, 2015, see Skiba et al., 2014).1 And by some estimates, these exclusionary policies have social and economic costs in the billions of dollars (Rumberger and Losen, 2016).

Much of what we know about why students are suspended or expelled is centered on the proximate settings of children (i.e. school policies, teacher practices) and how they disproportionately interact with a child's ascriptive characteristics (i.e. gender, race/ethnicity, social class, disability). We know much less about the antecedents of school discipline, especially in early childhood. We add to this literature by examining the role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—a collective measure of family instability and trauma. Such an approach can demonstrate the role of ACEs on suspension and expulsion, but also isolate a critical developmental period yet established in the literature. We focus on a child's early (to age 5) and cumulative (to age 9) ACEs to estimate its association with school suspension nearly a decade later, from ages 13 to 19.

A strong test of the association between ACEs on student suspension and expulsion rates would employ nationally representative longitudinal data with a broad array of child development measures and educational outcomes. To date, no such study exists. We use the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data that are nationally representative of all U.S. cities with populations over 200,000. The data oversamples disadvantaged groups, allowing for a more robust analyses of marginalized groups often not available in large-scale data. The longitudinal nature of the data facilitates the accumulative measurement of ACEs at multiple points in time (year 5 and year 9) and a perspective prediction of youth suspension/expulsion rates years later.

Section snippets

Exclusionary discipline in school

Exclusionary discipline—the physical removal of a student from a classroom or school— has increased substantially as an educational practice since the 1970s (Losen and Skiba, 2010). We focus on two forms of exclusionary discipline—in-school suspension and out-of-school expulsion. Whereas in-school suspension (ISS) is the temporary removal of a student from the classroom for half a day or more, expulsion is the physical removal from school for an extended period, usually under 10 days (Welsh and

Data source

We used the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a nationally-representative sample of approximately 4700 children born between 1998 and 2000 in 20 US cities (with populations equal to or greater than 200,000). The original sample was selected through a stratified random sampling design that oversampled children born to unmarried parents at a three-to-one ratio. Baseline interviews with mothers and fathers (when available) took place shortly after the birth of the child, follow

Adolescent suspension/expulsion

Our outcome variable is a binary indicator derived from the following question asked of children around the age of 15: “Have you been suspended or expelled from school in the last two years?” We should note that this measure largely captures school suspension rates. Whereas 5.3% of public-school students have ever been suspended, only 0.2% of public-school students have ever been expelled (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019).

Adverse childhood experiences

For the measure of ACEs, we used the CDC-Kaiser Study (

Descriptive analysis

Table 1 shows weighted sample characteristics for the full sample and then separated by number of ACEs. Overall, nearly 20% of the youth have been suspended or expelled in the two years prior to the survey and 81% of the youth have experienced at least one early ACE. More specifically, 19% have experienced 0 ACEs, 26% have experienced 1 ACE, 22% have experienced 2 ACEs, 12% have experienced 3 ACEs, and 21% have experienced 4 or more ACEs. In line with expectations, suspension/expulsion

Discussion and conclusion

Individual biographies of adverse childhood experiences are a missing part of how we understand expulsion and suspension in American school settings. While sociological literature on suspension and expulsion has focused almost exclusively on race/ethnicity, social class, gender, and disability disparities, this study expands upon prior literature with a strong theoretical test of the ACEs assessment by examining the relationship between ACEs and school suspension/expulsion. We first replicate

Policy implications

Despite these limitations, the current study has important policy implications. First, trauma prevention and intervention efforts should screen for ACEs—especially in early childhood. Trauma-informed health care approaches that recognize the need for ACE and trauma screening practices may assist clinicians and other health care professionals monitor, identify, and address the psychological and behavioral ramifications of ACEs (Dube, 2018; Finkelhor, 2018). One respected approach for trauma

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      Moreover, substantial research has also documented that the developmental timing of ACEs or duration of ACE exposure can have a detrimental impact on children's present and future health and behavioral outcomes. In particular, studies have shown that exposure to ACEs as early as the age of 5 years or younger is linked to negative life outcomes in middle childhood and adolescence, such as cognitive, emotional, and social capabilities (Cprek, Williamson, McDaniel, Brase, & Williams, 2020); physical and mental health (Flaherty et al., 2013), school suspension/expulsion (Pierce, Jones, & Gibbs, 2022) and behavioral problems (Hunt, Slack, & Berger, 2017; Schroeder, Slopen, & Mittal, 2020). While the effects of ACEs in the lives of children and youth have been well-established, a growing body of literature documents gender differences in exposure to and consequences of ACEs.

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      In particular, extensive research has documented how ACEs during very early childhood (by age five) are linked to a host of negative life outcomes during middle childhood and adolescence, including emotional, cognitive, and social capabilities (Cprek, Williamson, McDaniel, Brase, & Williams, 2020; Pierce et al., 2022), internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Hunt, Slack, & Berger, 2017; Leban, 2021; Schroeder, Slopen, & Mittal, 2020), and issues at school (Jackson, Testa, & Vaughn, 2021; Pierce et al., 2022). Other studies have found that ACEs during very early childhood are linked to both deficits in social skills (Pierce et al., 2022) and self-control (Jones & Pierce, 2021) during adolescence. Thus, there is robust evidence to suggest that very early ACE exposure can substantially shape health and behavioral outcomes in the lives of adolescents.

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