Academic stress hampers the learning of children of low socioeconomic status

"Even if one does it thinking about the collective benefits of the country and not out of generosity, we should provide the educational system with more extensive scholarships, so that working-class people can study without the permanent anguish of continuing the following year," he reflected in one recent interview with the philosopher and sociologist César Rendueles, who emphasized the stress and fear with which many students from the most disadvantaged classes live the university experience.

But what if that academic stress didn't start on campus, but much earlier, in elementary school?

That, precisely, is what the result of an American investigation with nearly 6,000 students aged 10 and 11, published in the scientific journal

.

This concludes, after analyzing the questionnaires in which the boys and girls answered a series of questions about their level of concern when taking exams, homework and making mistakes at school, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families report more cases of worry than children from privileged backgrounds.

As their academic concern increased, they also get worse grades in Mathematics and Reading.

“It has not come as a surprise that worry about school has been associated with lower test scores for children.

What is relevant about our study is that it shows that this negative relationship is really evident for children from more disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, while in the case of children from more privileged backgrounds, this relationship is not observed even when they experience the same levels of academic concern.” explains the lead author of the study, Dr. Benjamin G. Gibbs, professor in the Department of Sociology at Brigham Young University (Utah, USA).

Gibbs believes that boys and girls from upper socioeconomic classes have "a myriad of resources" to support their learning and protect them from the difficult moments in school from which, as a rule,

Specifically, their research indicates that children from the most disadvantaged classes showed 18 points more concern than their peers from privileged classes regarding academic tests (32% vs. 14%) and 13 points more concern about doing things well ( 35% vs. 22%) and finishing school work (28% vs. 15%).

A 50% increase in worry levels was correlated in the study with a 20% decrease in students' Math and Reading scores.

Pablo Gracia, Professor of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, has spent years researching how socioeconomic differences affect parenting patterns and, ultimately, sons and daughters.

“There is a lot of scientific literature that shows how structural economic inequality creates a very high risk of what social scientists call the family stress model.

Material scarcity and precariousness can generate more conflicts at home and ultimately can generate a climate that is much less conducive to learning.

When you don't know if you're going to be able to pay for the electricity or if you're going to have access to hot water, it's very difficult for some parents' priority to be sitting down with their children to do their homework or study”, argues Gracia,

that he considers it important to clarify that stress and conflicts are experienced in all families;

in the same way that any minor can show academic concern.

The difference, she points out, lies in the manner in which it occurs and the resources available to deal with those conflicts and concerns.

“Families in an economically advantaged position have skills and resources to compensate for these situations and disadvantages.

If you come from a privileged family, you will always have that compensation cushion.

This does not happen in the most disadvantaged families ”, she adds.

“Families in an economically advantaged position have skills and resources to compensate for these situations and disadvantages.

If you come from a privileged family, you will always have that compensation cushion.

This does not happen in the most disadvantaged families ”, he adds.

“Families in an economically advantaged position have skills and resources to compensate for these situations and disadvantages.

If you come from a privileged family, you will always have that compensation cushion.

This does not happen in the most disadvantaged families ”, he adds.

To these factors, Sonia Martínez, a psychologist who is an expert in the development of Emotional, Social and Learning Skills and director of the Crece Bien Centers in Madrid, adds another: expectations.

“Many times, families from the most disadvantaged classes have very high expectations towards their children, which can translate into greater pressure for them to study and have a better position in the future than their parents, so that they are the saviors of status of the family”, emphasizes the expert, who considers that many boys and girls from these environments can also face the reverse of this situation.

That is, to pessimism: “Sometimes there is a tendency to defeatist thinking.

There are boys and girls who live surrounded by experiences of failure, instability, uncertainty, and have no references in their environment,

The importance of teachers

A study published in September by the ESADE Center for Economic Policy and based on the analysis of diagnostic tests carried out in the Community of Madrid over the past decade, concluded that at eight or nine years of age, in the third year of primary school, a child of A high socioeconomic class is on average almost two courses ahead of a lower class student.

Taking into account that academic concerns, according to the research of Dr. Benjamin G. Gibbs, weigh down the math and reading scores of students from the most disadvantaged social classes;

And that precisely mathematics and reading, as Sonia Martínez adds, are essential skills for the academic development of students, could the academic gap be reduced by reducing the concerns related to the school of the students and helping to manage them? in the homes?

“It is difficult if this is not accompanied by structural measures for the redistribution of wealth”, replies Pablo Gracia,

and adds that there is a lot of scientific evidence showing that students from disadvantaged classes have to work much harder than their peers from privileged classes with similar abilities to achieve the same results.

“There is a gap at the starting point.

But it is that, even, many of the students from disadvantaged families who do well in primary or secondary will not get to take certain higher education, while other students from privileged families who do worse will have the support and tools provided by the family breadwinner. to achieve those studies”, he explains.

To these structural measures, the experts consulted also add the need to provide more resources to public schools, especially at the level of teaching staff, so that education can be more personalized in this way, something that would ultimately benefit everyone. students, but especially those from the most disadvantaged classes, whose basic conditions often go unnoticed by teachers.

“Teachers often know the family background of their students.

Knowing the academic implications of socioeconomic disadvantage for their students may encourage some teachers to spend extra time in the classroom for these children.

The problem, at least in the American context, is that children from disadvantaged classes are, on average,

much quieter in the classroom and less likely to ask for help compared to their wealthier peers.

In a classroom with a high student ratio, anyone can imagine that the needs of these students can easily be overlooked,” says Benjamin G. Gibbs.

An opinion shared by Pablo Gracia, who argues that there are qualitative and quantitative studies that show that students from more privileged classes "play at home" when they are in the classroom.

“Even if a teacher is very aware of the importance of equal opportunities, there are a series of very complex mechanisms that cause middle and upper class students to participate more and receive more attention, so it is also important to be aware of these processes of discrimination in which we can all fall”, he concludes.

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