| This study investigated the relationship between family protective factors, a family's structure that moderates or mediates the effects of exposure to risk factors that can ultimately affect the behavior of individual family members, (as measured by a parent survey) and in-school and out-of-school suspensions (ISS and OSS; as measured by school discipline records). ISS and OSS prevent students from learning, and because of disciplinary rules, students who are absent from school do not have the benefit of continuing with school assignments based on disciplinary rules. Based on the premise of social learning theory, which says that adolescents are especially vulnerable to role models in their family of origin, the researcher used self-reports of 199 parents and discipline records of their 9th- and 10th-grade students, selected from the southeastern region of the United States. This population was used to determine the relationship between family protective factors and ISS and OSS. The Pearson r with a Bonferroni correction was utilized to measure the correlation of ISS and OSS with each of 9 family protective factors. No statistically significant correlations were obtained between ISS and family protective factors, but a significant negative correlation (r = -.323, p < .000) was found between OSS and a child's grades for 9th-grade students. The findings reveal that when 9th-grade students in this study received OSS, they also demonstrated a lack of academic success. Recommendations to educators include modifying OSS policies and reducing the use of OSS. This may lead to positive social change by instituting creative interventions that maintain the integrity of academia and support continued learning. |
