Moving into middle school: individual differences in the transition experience

Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, Apr 1998 by McDougall, Patricia, Hymel, Shelley

Transition experience for the group. Our first analysis involved an examination of the means, standard deviations and range for each of the Transition Experience items. Results indicated that, as a group, students reported relatively positive reactions to their transition into middle school. Indeed, as illustrated in Table 1, the mean responses for the four Transition Experience items where at the high end of each scale. In general, students as a group reported being relatively happy and successful in their first month of grade 7, and did not find that changing schools was overly difficult or stressful. Although the mean responses were all positive, it is important to note that a full range of responses (1 to 5) was observed on each of the Transition Experience items, suggesting that there were in fact a number of students who reported marked discontent in the early months of middle school.

Individual differences in the transition experience. We first examined the inter-correlations between adjustment indices at both Time 1 (Pre-Transition) and Time 2 (Transition). As illustrated in Table 2 the inter-correlations observed among the various adjustment indices were low to moderate in magnitude. Thus, although there was some overlap among the adjustment variables, each appeared to address a distinct aspect of adjustment.

Next, we examined the zero-order correlations between indices of adjustment (both at Time 1 and Time 2) and student reports of their Overall Transition Experience (average of four items). Findings suggested that Overall Transition Experience (as assessed at Time 2) was significantly correlated with indices of adjustment at both Time 1 and Time 2 (see Table 3). We then calculated stability coefficients correlating indices of adjustment at Time 1 with the same index of adjustment at Time 2. Although the magnitude of these coefficients (see Table 3) was substantial, none of the adjustment indices were observed to be entirely stable over time. Indeed, it would appear that a meaningful proportion of the variance in each of these adjustment indices (between 40 and 60%) was observed to fluctuate across the transition period.

In the first of our regression analyses we questioned whether transition difficulties might be predicted by adjustment in elementary school, prior to the transition. To this end, we conducted a simultaneous regression analysis on a subsample of students (N = 102; 54 girls, 48 boys) for whom the same adjustment indices were available at the end of grade 6(f.5). Specifically, Overall Transition Experience scores (as assessed in early grade 7) were predicted from composite grade 6 indices of Self-Concept, School Attitudes/Behaviours and Social Adjustment as well as Academic Achievement, and sex of student(f.6). Findings indicated that the five predictor variables together accounted for 33% of the variance in Overall Transition Experience. Table 4 illustrates that when all other variables were controlled, however, reported Social Adjustment and School Attitudes/Behaviour in grade 6 were the only two variables to contribute uniquely to the prediction of Overall Transition Experience in grade 7. The positive regression coefficients associated with Social Adjustment and School Attitudes/Behaviours suggest that students who reported poor social adjustment (e.g., greater loneliness, less integration and intimacy with peers and greater anonymity within the school) and negative attitudes and behaviour (e.g., lower school value, lower perceptions of teacher support, less involvement and greater disruptive behaviour) at the end of grade 6 were more likely to report difficulty and stress with the transition experience five months later, during the first months of grade 7. None of the interactions between sex of student and each of the grade 6 adjustment factors added significantly to variance accounted for in students' reports of their Overall Transition Experience, suggesting that the pattern of relations observed between social adjustment, self-concept, and reported transition experience was similar for boys and girls.