Examining the Role of School and Neighborhood Disorder in Early Adolescents’ Future Orientation Development

Developmental theories and previous research suggest that individuals do not develop separately from their environments. Yet, limited information is known about how ecological influences specifically shape early adolescents’ development. To address this, the current study examined environmental influences on early adolescents’ future orientation development. Leveraging a linear regression analysis, the current study investigated how 3,570 fifth-grade students’ exposure to school and neighborhood disorder shapes their future orientations. This study hypothesized that students’ exposure to school and neighborhood disorder would detrimentally influence their future orientations; however, the results demonstrated mixed findings. While students’ exposure to school disorder positively influenced their future orientations, their exposure to neighborhood disorder had the inverse effect. In addition, early adolescents’ future orientations were not influenced by the interaction between neighborhood and school disorder. The findings suggest that scholars should further explore mechanisms or moderators to understand the discrepancy between previous work and theory.