Beyond the Racial Discipline Gap: The Collateral Consequences of School Suspension among African American and Afro-Caribbean Adolescents

Abstract

An extensive body of research documents racial disparities in exclusionary school discipline between Black and White students, demonstrating the persistence of racial inequality in US public schools. Education scholars find that exclusionary discipline poses collateral consequences for affected youth, including Black adolescents. However, few studies consider how school punishment affects Black youth of diverse ethnicities. Consequently, I examine the impact of school suspension on selected health and educational outcomes among African American and Afro-Caribbean adolescents. Drawing on perspectives in the sociology of race, ethnicity, immigration, education, and health, I use data from the adolescent supplement of the National Survey of American Life (2001-2003) to test these relationships. Study one examines the association between school suspension and depressive symptoms among African American and Afro-Caribbean adolescents and the mechanisms underlying these relationships. Findings reveal that suspension is associated with higher depressive symptoms in each group. Among African Americans, this relationship is partially explained by family emotional support and mastery. Study two examines the impact of school suspension on self-reported grades and homework time among the same groups. Results indicate that suspension is linked with lower grades among African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans. Moderation analyses show that suspension has a more detrimental impact on the average grades of African Americans compared to their Afro-Caribbean peers with similar achievement. Relative to high-performing African Americans, school suspension is more damaging to the high achievement of Afro-Caribbeans, suggesting that it may be one path through which the Afro-Caribbean educational advantage declines. Findings also reveal that suspension is related to reduced homework time in the combined sample of Black adolescents, and this relationship does not vary by ethnicity. The final study investigates the impact of school suspension on tobacco smoking among African American and Afro-Caribbean adolescents. Results show that suspension influences smoking in the combined sample, and this relationship does not differ by ethnicity. In sum, my dissertation extends research on exclusionary discipline by uncovering ethnic variation in the relationship between school suspension and multiple outcomes among diverse Black adolescents.