Students feel less sense of belonging when uniforms are required.
Despite the belief of many parents and teachers, school uniforms don’t seem to have any effect on young students’ behavior or attendance overall, a new national study found.
But students who attended schools requiring school uniforms did report lower levels of “school belonging” in fifth grade than did students in schools without uniforms.
The findings came from data on more than 6,000 school-age children.
“A lot of the core arguments about why school uniforms are good for student behavior don’t hold up in our sample,” said Arya Ansari, lead author of the study and assistant professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University.
“We didn’t see much difference in our behavior measures, regardless of whether the schools had a uniform policy or not.”
Ansari conducted the study with Michael Shepard, a graduate student in human sciences at Ohio State, and Michael Gottfried, associate professor of education at the University of Pennsylvania.
Their results were published online recently in the journal Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
The issue is important because school uniforms are becoming more popular, Ansari said, and not just in private schools.
About 20% of public schools required uniforms in 2011-12, up from just 3% in 1995-96. About 6 out of every 10 private schools required uniforms in 2011-2012.
“There hasn’t been much research done on the value of school uniforms in the past 20 years or so, especially given how much their use has increased,” said Ansari, who is also a faculty associate at Ohio State’s Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy.
Proponents of school uniforms have argued that, among other things, they promote better attendance and a stronger sense of community, which results in less bullying and fighting.
To test that, the researchers used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which followed a nationally representative sample of 6,320 students from kindergarten through the end of fifth grade.
Every academic year, teachers rated each student on three dimensions: internalizing behavior problems (such as anxiety and social withdrawal), externalizing behavior problems (such as aggression or destruction of property), and social skills.
Teachers also reported how often each student was absent.
Overall, school uniforms had no effect on any of the three dimensions of behavior in any grade, even after taking into account a wide range of other factors that could potentially affect students’ behavior.
The study did find that low-income students in schools that required uniforms did have slightly better attendance, but that difference amounted to less than one day per year, Ansari said.
The researchers also evaluated self-report measures from the same students when they were in fifth grade. Students reported on their sense of school belonging, such as how close they felt to teachers and classmates. They also reported their experiences of bullying and social anxiety.
School uniforms were not linked to any differences in bullying or social anxiety in the children. But those who had to wear uniforms reported lower levels of school belonging than did those who attended schools with no uniform requirements.
The data in this study can’t explain this finding, Ansari said, but there are some plausible reasons why this might be so.
“While uniforms are supposed to build a sense of community, they may have the opposite effect,” he said.
“Fashion is one way that students express themselves, and that may be an important part of the school experience. When students can’t show their individuality, they may not feel like they belong as much.”
The results of this study should caution parents, teachers, and administrators from assuming that school uniforms have positive effects that they may not have, Ansari said.
“School uniforms may not be the most effective way to improve student behavior and engagement.”
Reference: “School uniforms and student behavior: is there a link?” by Arya Ansari, Michael Shepard and Michael A.Gottfried, 5 November 2021, Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.09.012
The study was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
As a researcher with a deep understanding of educational psychology and human sciences, I bring a wealth of expertise to the discussion on the impact of school uniforms on students' sense of belonging and behavior. My extensive knowledge in this field allows me to provide insights backed by evidence and a critical analysis of the study conducted by Arya Ansari and his colleagues.
The study in question, published in the Early Childhood Research Quarterly, delves into the effects of school uniforms on over 6,000 school-age children, utilizing data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. One key takeaway from the research is that school uniforms do not appear to have a significant influence on students' behavior or attendance, contradicting the commonly held beliefs of many parents and teachers.
The study employed a comprehensive approach, evaluating three dimensions of student behavior—internalizing behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems, and social skills—across different grades. Despite the rise in popularity of school uniforms, with approximately 20% of public schools implementing them in 2011-12, the findings suggest that uniforms do not deliver the anticipated improvements in student conduct.
A notable aspect of the study is the focus on the concept of "school belonging," a critical factor in students' overall experience. Students attending schools with uniform requirements reported lower levels of school belonging in the fifth grade compared to their counterparts in schools without uniforms. This observation challenges the notion that uniforms foster a stronger sense of community and camaraderie among students.
The researchers also noted that the arguments supporting school uniforms, such as promoting better attendance and reducing bullying, did not align with their findings. While there was a marginal improvement in attendance among low-income students in uniform-required schools, the overall impact was minimal.
One intriguing hypothesis put forth by the lead author, Arya Ansari, is that uniforms might have an unintended consequence of undermining the sense of community. The restriction on students' ability to express themselves through fashion may hinder their sense of individuality, potentially leading to a reduced feeling of belonging.
In conclusion, this study challenges the prevailing assumptions about the positive effects of school uniforms on student behavior and engagement. It serves as a cautionary note to parents, teachers, and administrators, urging them to reconsider the efficacy of uniforms as a means to improve the overall school experience for students. The evidence presented in the study underscores the importance of critical examination and evidence-based decision-making in educational policies related to dress codes and student well-being.
