Academic Risk and Resilience in Rural Guatemala: Family and Individual Predictors of Mayan Children’s School Attainment

Priscilla Goble, Arizona State University
Celaine Moreno, Arizona State University
Carey E. Cooper, Arizona State University
Aprile Benner, University of Texas at Austin

Although access to primary education has increased in Guatemala in recent years, primary school completion remains among the lowest in Latin America. Indigenous children are most at risk, with 14% of Mayan girls and 30% of Mayan boys completing primary school. Using community-based survey data (N = 179 mothers), this study aims to identify academic risk and protective factors among Mayan families in Guatemala. The following research questions are addressed: (a) To what extent are school-aged, indigenous children exposed to various forms of socioeconomic disadvantage? (b) To what extent are the quantity and quality of this disadvantage associated with children’s school attainment? (c) What are the social, cultural, emotional, and health factors that promote academic resilience and reduce the negative association between socioeconomic disadvantage and school attainment? (d) To what extent do these factors, their association with school attainment, and their protective role vary by child gender?