Samenvatting

The transition from primary to secondary school is generally thought to represent the onset of increased behavioral disengagement, which undermines students’ academic development. Prior studies examined the average development of behavioral disengagement across school transitions. This study examined how students’ peer status in primary school and ability track in secondary school relate to trajectories of behavioral disengagement. We followed n = 1,564 students who transitioned to secondary school across three time points: February/March and May/June in students’ last year of primary school and January/February, roughly six months after students transitioned to secondary school. Latent Growth Curve Analyses showed that on average, behavioral disengagement increased, but this increase mostly occurred before transitioning to secondary school. Peer status and track related to students’ initial levels of behavioral disengagement, but not to their development in behavioral disengagement over the transition. Specifically, students who were more accepted by peers showed lower behavioral disengagement in primary school, whereas students who were viewed as more popular by peers and students who ended up in the lowest track showed more behavioral disengagement in primary school.