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Self-affirmation reduces the socioeconomic attainment gap in schools in England

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posted on 2023-06-09, 17:49 authored by Ian HaddenIan Hadden, Matthew EasterbrookMatthew Easterbrook, Marlon Nieuwenhuis, Kerry Fox, Paul Dolan
Background. Studies in the USA show that school students from some ethnic backgrounds are susceptible to stereotype threat, that this undermines their academic performance, and that a series of virtually zero-cost self-affirmation writing exercises can reduce these adverse effects. In England, however, socioeconomic status (SES) is a much stronger predictor of academic success than is ethnic background. Aims. This study investigates whether self-affirmation writing exercises can help close the SES attainment gap in England by increasing the academic performance of low-SES (but not higher-SES) school students. Sample. Our sample consisted of students aged 11-14 in a secondary school in southern England (N = 562); of these, 128 were eligible for free school meals, a proxy for low SES. Methods. Students completed three short writing exercises throughout one academic year: those randomly assigned to an affirmed condition wrote about values that were important to them, and those assigned to a control condition wrote about a neutral topic. Results. On average, the low-SES students had lower academic performance and reported experiencing more stereotype threat than their higher-SES peers. The selfaffirmation raised the academic performance of the low-SES students by 0.38 standard deviations but did not significantly affect the performance of the higher-SES students, thus reducing the SES performance gap by 62%. The self-affirmation also reduced the level of stress reported by the low-SES school students. Conclusions. The benefits of this virtually zero-cost intervention compare favorably with those of other interventions targeting the SES academic attainment gap.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

British Journal of Educational Psychology

ISSN

0007-0998

Publisher

British Psychological Society

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-05-17

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-06-04

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-05-16

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