The emotional and physical withdrawal of many students from school may be associated with students' failure to identify with school. Identification was defined as having a sense of belonging in school and valuing school and school-related outcomes. This study investigated the antecedents of students' identification with school, namely, longitudinal patterns of academic achievement and classroom participation among 1,335 white and African-American students. Since many researchers have asserted that disidentification from school is particularly prevalent among African-American students, racial group differences were also examined. African-American and female students had higher levels of identification with school than did white and male students, respectively. Classroom participation and academic achievement were significant predictors of identification. While African-American students had higher levels of identification than did white students, their positive feelings were not attributable to prior academic achievement. Research implications include early efforts to interrupt the process of disidentification, such as encouraging students' classroom participation.
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