The Impact Of Social Support On Underprivileged Children’s Academic Achievement :The Mediating Effect Of Hope

Academic achievement is a very important medium to measure students’ cognition on certain aspects.Students’ academic achievement is influenced by many factors,including individual factors,for example,hope,but also influenced by external factors,such as the influence come from parents,friends,teachers,and society.Numerous studies have shown that family economic stress has a significant disadvantage effect on children’s academic performance.However,at present,little is known about the "how"(intermediary mechanism)social support to influence the special group of poor children in their academic performance.This study builds an intermediary model based on the integration of the family investment model and the theory of hope,examining the intermediary role of hope between social support and the academic performance of poor children.Using random cluster sampling,social support scale and Children’s hope scale to measure 513 poverty students at five places in Hunan province(Changsha,Chenzhou,Hengyang,Loudi,Zhangjiajie)who are the family’s monthly incomes lower than 3000 yuan and the file and register poor children to analyze the effect of social support on underprivileged children and the mediating effect of hope.Among them,192 were male(37.43%)and 321 were female(62.57%).The average age of the poor children was 13.26(SD = 2.2).This study mainly uses questionnaire survey methods,participants completed social support scales,children’s hope scales,and final academic performance data provided by school teachers.The study results show that:(1)Gender has significant effects on underprivileged children’s social support,hope and academic performance.For special performance: the level of academic performance of girls is significantly higher than that of boys.The level of social support of girls is significantly higher than that of boys.The level of hope of boys is significantly higher than that of girls.(2)Age has significant effcts on underprivileged children’s academic achievement,the performance in primary school age higher than that in middle school age.(3)The social support can predict underprivileged children’s academic achievement.(4)Social support affects underprivileged children’s academic performance through children’s hope.Thus,children’s hope is mediator factor.(5)The underprivileged children’s academic performance be improved by social support and children’s hope.This study confirms that social support is an important link between poverty and academic achievement,and affirms the hope of protecting children in poverty.This internal and external protection mechanism is of great significance to the formulation of China’s education policy and has certain enlightenment on education practice.The government should increase investment in education to promote fairness in education.To a certain extent,schools can play a role in compensating for fairness in education,improve the academic performance of poor children and promote the comprehensive development of poor children.This is not only a victory in fighting poverty.,but also can promote the development of the world’s anti-poverty in this new era.