Content area
Full text
Adolescents from low-income rural families are confronted with several factors in their everyday life that challenge their adaptation. They are deprived of the resources they require for healthy development. The present study attempted to identity the predictors of resilience and academic achievement among rural adolescent students at-risk. An initial sample of 414 adolescents (Males= 220; Females=194) was recruited írom seventh and eighth standard of three Government schools located in rural areas in Coimbatore. A sample of 208 (Males= 112; Females=96) adolescents who scored high on intemalizing/extemalizing problems was screened-in for the study. The participants completed self-report measures of internalizing and externalizing problems, meta-cognitive awareness, self-regulation, experience in close relationships, and resilience. Regression analysis carried out to identity the best predictors of resilience, and academic achievement showed interesting results. Self-regulation was the single predictor of resilience. Self-regulation positively and attachment avoidance negatively predicted academic achievement. The secure attachment style also appears to be critical for promoting social and cultural capital among adolescents at-risk. Interventions with at-risk adolescents may focus on promoting self-regulation and secure attachment.
Keywords: resilience, self-regulation, academic achievement, attachment styles, rural
Poverty and inequality in rural areas have economic and social causes. Though this affects all, it has a particular implication for the development of children and young people. The lack of resources available in the family (Conger, Conger, & Elder, 1997; Conger & Dogan, 2007; Conger & Donnellan, 2007; Mistry, Vandewater, Huston, & McLoyd, 2002; Martin, Conger, Schofield, et al., 2010) and community (Dashiff, DiMicco, Myers, & Sheppard, 2009; Leventhal, Fauth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2005; Wilson, 1987) resulting from poverty can adversely affect the development. Poverty places constraints on the biopsychosocial development of adolescents (Engel, 1977). Birth weight, brain development, the onset of puberty, developmental delays of secondary sex characteristics, and overall healthy functioning is affected by poverty. Similarly, growing up in an impoverished environment affects the cognitive development, which in turn affects school engagement and achievement. Poverty also has an adverse effect on the psychosocial development of young people.
Socioeconomic status not only influences education but also influences the attainment of education (Aronowitz, 2008). Academic aspirations of parents for their children, parents' educational attainment, and value for education in the family are limited in families living in poverty since their immediate needs...