Social Class Discrimination and Academic Success: A Person‐Centered Approach Among Adolescents Disadvantaged in Social Class

INTRODUCTION: Prior research indicates that social class is strongly associated with academic outcomes such as GPA. However, little work explores the role that social discrimination plays in this relation. This study examined the link between social class discrimination and academic outcomes among high school students. METHOD: Participants were 956 working class adolescents (ages 13-18; 55% boys, 65% Latine) in the western United States. Using latent profile analysis, we identified four patterns of discrimination from five sources (teachers, classmates, friends, other teenagers, and community members). We also assessed socio-emotional academic outcomes (school isolation, impulsivity) and academic self-reported achievement outcomes (GPA, grades). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Two profiles showed high discrimination from either in-school or out-of-school sources, one showed frequent discrimination from all sources, and one reported low levels overall. Adolescents in profiles experiencing in-school discrimination from teachers and classmates had lower academic outcomes than those experiencing infrequent or out-of-school social class discrimination. Findings highlight that in-school social class discrimination may be particularly detrimental to self-reported performance and socio-emotional academic outcomes.