INFLUENCE OF CONTEXTUAL FACTORS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN A SAMPLE OF LATINO ADOLESCENTS: THE MODERATING ROLE OF SCHOOL ATTACHMENT

The present study further evaluated contextual factors (i.e., neighborhood violence and peer rejection) that contribute to academic performance by examining school attachment as a moderator of these associations in a sample of Latino high school students (N = 144, 54% male). Findings suggested that both neighborhood violence and peer rejection were negatively associated with academic performance. However, the influence of neighborhood violence depended on levels of school attachment, with neighborhood violence unrelated to poor academic performance when levels of school attachment were high. In contrast, peer rejection was robustly associated with poor academic performance, regardless of the level of school attachment. Implications of findings are discussed. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.