Everyday discrimination, negative emotions, and academic achievement in Filipino secondary school students: Cross-sectional and cross-lagged panel investigations

Abstract

Different forms of overt discrimination have been consistently linked to maladaptive psychological, physical health, and educational outcomes. However, limited research has been carried out to assess the link of subtle forms of discrimination like everyday discrimination on academic functioning in the school context. The current study addressed this research gap through examining the association of everyday discrimination with negative emotions and academic achievement among Filipino high school students. A cross-sectional study (Study 1) showed that everyday discrimination was positively associated with negative emotions and negatively linked to perceived academic achievement. Furthermore, everyday discrimination had indirect effects on academic achievement through the intermediate variable negative emotions. Then, a two-wave cross-lagged panel investigation (Study 2) demonstrated that Time 1 everyday discrimination was linked to higher Time 2 negative emotions. Reciprocal associations were also found among the constructs because Time 1 academic achievement was linked to lower levels Time 2 negative emotions and Time 2 everyday discrimination. The theoretical and practical implications of the research are elucidated.