Neighborhoods and educational opportunity structures: an examination of factors affecting sense of belonging among high school students
Duran, Naomi Sara
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129577
Description
Title
Neighborhoods and educational opportunity structures: an examination of factors affecting sense of belonging among high school students
Author(s)
Duran, Naomi Sara
Issue Date
2025-04-25
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Lleras, Christy
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Lleras, Christy
Committee Member(s)
Bost, Kelly
Marchand, Aixa
Kolak, Marynia
Department of Study
Human Dvlpmt & Family Studies
Discipline
Human Dvlpmt & Family Studies
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Neighborhood Effects
Educational Opportunities
Cultural Capital
High School
School Belonging
Abstract
Prior studies have demonstrated how living in resource-deprived neighborhoods is associated with poorer developmental outcomes including depressed academic achievement, poorer well-being, and lower school engagement. At the same time, studies have shown that access to cultural capital in the form of knowledgeable and supportive relatives, peers, and non-familial adults, and enrichment opportunities in school is critical to fostering greater school engagement, particularly for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds who are more likely to feel excluded and disengaged from school. This dissertation builds on these prior bodies of work by examining how the neighborhood and school environments affect opportunity structures to develop a connection to and greater sense of belonging in school. This dissertation utilizes data from the first wave of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 when students were in 9th grade combined with tract-level data on the quality of students’ neighborhoods of residence from the 2009 – 2013 American Community Survey. A multilevel mixed effects regression analysis approach was used to model the association between structural aspects of neighborhoods and schools, student-reported sense of school belonging, and the role of access to STEM enrichment opportunities, and social capital in the form of supportive parents, school peers, and teachers and counselors in bolstering sense of belonging in school. The findings demonstrate a significant negative association between living in more structurally disadvantaged neighborhoods and students’ sense of belonging in school. However, access to STEM enrichment opportunities, and school and family social capital dampened this association suggesting the important role enrichment opportunities and social capital play in bolstering students’ sense of school belonging. This work has implications for education policy as it has the potential to highlight the importance of fostering opportunities for socialization through school-based enrichment programs which may foster greater school attachment and improve educational attainment, particularly among youth from historically disenfranchised groups.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
