5.1Introduction

The transition from primary to secondary school marks a time of significant change for many children (Hanewald, 2013). It is a time of adjustment to a new school with new classmates and teachers, and to being one of the youngest in the school rather than the oldest. For the first time for many, children usually have multiple classes with different teachers and different groups of peers. They are also required to adapt to an increased workload at school, and increased responsibilities that come with having more homework and self-directed learning. Many children also have new travel arrangements for getting to and from school and may need to travel further. They are also exposed to broader experiences in studying a range of new subjects (Hanewald, 2013; Lester, Waters, & Cross, 2013). As well as all these school-related changes, children are at the same time negotiating the developmental and socio-emotional changes associated with becoming adolescents (Hanewald, 2013; Towns, 2011). Many children feel anxious in the face of these changes; however, many also feel excited and optimistic about the upcoming challenges and opportunities (Lucey & Reay, 2000; Sirsch, 2003). How well children navigate the transition to secondary school has important implications for their ongoing psychosocial, emotional and academic development (Zeedyk et al., 2003). The first year of secondary school is critical for setting children up for the following years (West, Sweeting, & Young, 2010), and poor adjustment to secondary school has been associated with disengagement and non-completion, which leads to a raft of other poor outcomes, such as limited employment opportunities (Hanewald, 2013).

5.2School-level factors and socio-economic and demographic characteristics

There are aspects of the transition to secondary school that are challenging for all children, and research has identified several school-level factors that schools can use to support children through the transition. These include orientation tours, discussion sessions, transition programs, peer-support programs, "home room" classes, and so on (e.g., Hanewald, 2013; Vinson & Harrison, 2006). As well as school-level factors, a range of socio-economic and demographic characteristics have important influences on how well children transition to secondary school. These include gender, age, socio-economic status and having older siblings (for a summary, see West et al., 2010). For instance, girls have been found to be more vulnerable than boys with respect to changes in their friendship groups (Bailey & Baines, 2012), whereas a loss of motivation to learn has been found to be more common among boys (McGee, Ward, Gibbons, & Harlow, 2004). Previous studies have found that children's ages at the beginning of secondary school predict their transition, with younger students having more difficulties (Galton, Morrison, & Pell, 2000; West et al., 2010). In addition, children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to have a difficult transition to secondary school, and children with older siblings at the same school are likely to have a smoother transition (West et al., 2010).

Individual characteristics and experiences

Rather than re-examining these school-level factors and socio-economic and demographic characteristics, which have been extensively studied in previous research, this chapter focuses on a selection of individual characteristics and experiences of children that have been highlighted as having important associations with successful and unsuccessful transitions to secondary school (Bailey & Baines, 2012; West et al., 2010), but have not been analysed using longitudinal data from multiple respondents, as is available from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Based on previous research, these characteristics and experiences can be broadly divided into five groups: socio-emotional wellbeing, temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school, and parenting style and parental investment.

Research has also shown that children's socio-emotional wellbeing has an important influence on how well children manage the move to secondary school. For example, West et al. (2010) found that children with low self-esteem and high levels of anxiety often experienced difficulties during the transition to secondary school. Some authors (e.g., Lucey & Reay, 2000) have emphasised the importance of looking at children's personal approach (reflected in their temperament) to the experience of starting secondary school, with those who approach it as a challenge rather than a difficulty having easier transitions. Other studies have found that children who are reported as having behaviour problems in primary school are more likely to struggle with the transition to secondary school (Bailey & Baines, 2012).

Aspects of children's temperament, such as persistence, have been found to be important correlates of their school functioning (Guerin, Gottfried, Oliver, & Thomas, 1994).

Because schoolwork does get more challenging in secondary school, it can be expected that children with better academic performance in primary school may find aspects of the transition to secondary school easier because they are relatively better prepared for the challenges of the work. In a small sample of lower income adolescents in French-speaking Canada, Serbin, Stack, and Kingdon (2013) found that specific academic abilities (e.g., spelling ability), among other variables, predicted the success of adolescents' transition to secondary school.

West et al. (2010) found that children's experiences in primary school were important for how well they transitioned to secondary school. Children who enjoy primary school are more likely to have a more successful transition to secondary school. School connectedness is an important aspect of students' school enjoyment, and captures how much a student feels they are cared for as part of the school community. It has important psychological benefits and is associated with a range of positive behaviours (Lester et al., 2013). Lester et al. found that feelings of primary school connectedness were a strong predictor of mental health over the transition from primary to secondary school (as well as feelings of connectedness in secondary school).

The experience of bullying is an aspect of children's primary school life that has particular significance for how well they then transition to secondary school. Zeedyk et al. (2003) reported that among children, parents and teachers, bullying was the major concern during the transition from primary to secondary school, with students who had been victims of bullying more likely to have trouble with the transition (Bailey & Baines, 2012; West et al., 2010).

Parents also play a role in how well children transition to secondary school. A key way they do this is through their parenting style and parental investment. West et al. (2010) found that children with over-controlling parents had more difficult transitions than those whose parents were warm and caring. Parents can also support their child's transition by being involved in their education, particularly during the transition to secondary school (Anderson, Jacobs, Schramm, & Splittgerber, 2000). At this age, parents also have the main responsibility for organising children's extracurricular activities, and it has been shown that children who participate in certain activities outside of school during primary school (e.g., taking part in a variety of sports, language classes, musical groups) may have a smoother transition to secondary school (Cox & Kennedy, 2008).

There is a need for an exploration into how these pre-transition factors (socio-emotional wellbeing, temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school, and parenting style and parental investment) are associated with post-transition difficulties, using longitudinal data from multiple respondents. Data from Wave 5 of LSAC provides the opportunity to investigate the primary to secondary school transition in the K cohort, as the children were aged 12-13 years and the majority moved from primary to secondary school just before the Wave 5 interview. LSAC is a rich source of data about children's lives, and the study captures information about a wide range of aspects of their lives that may be related to how well they transition to secondary school. As well as the longitudinal nature of the data, the study is also particularly useful because it collects data from children, their parents and their teachers, providing multiple viewpoints on their experiences.1

This chapter uses the LSAC data to investigate the following research questions:

• How similar are individual children's reports and their parents' reports of difficulties with transitioning to secondary school?
• What are the socio-emotional characteristics of children who did (and did not) have difficulties with transitioning to secondary school?
• Is children's academic performance in primary school associated with the success of their transition to secondary school?
• How important are experiences in primary school for how well children negotiate the transition to secondary school?
• Are parenting style and parental investment associated with a more successful transition to secondary school?
• Which are the most important factors: socio-emotional wellbeing, temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school, and/or parenting style and parental investment?
  

  5.3Sample and measures

Sample

The sample described in this chapter is drawn from the population of the LSAC K cohort children. The Australian education system is state/territory-based, which means that students start secondary school at different times and at different ages in various states/territories. In particular, students in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory move to secondary school in Year 7, when they are on average 11-12 years old. Students in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia start secondary school in Year 8, when they are on average 12-13 years old (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2009).

As the focus of this chapter is to explore the transition to secondary school, the following children were excluded from all analyses:

• children who were still in primary school at Wave 5:
  • 204 children in Year 5 or Year 6 from NSW, Vic., Tas., NT, ACT;
  • 816 children in Year 5, Year 6 or Year 7 from Qld, SA, WA;
• children who were in their second or third year of secondary school at Wave 5:
  • 226 children in Year 8 or Year 9 from NSW, Vic., Tas., NT, ACT; and
  • 5 children in Year 9 from Qld, SA, WA.

Of the remaining 2,663 children who were in the first year of secondary school in Wave 5, 364 had not changed school since the previous wave.2 For these 364 children it was not possible to investigate their experiences in transitioning to secondary school because they had not reported changing schools and so were not asked the set of questions about difficulties with the transition, which is the key outcome measure used in this chapter (see next section). After excluding these children, there were then 2,299 cases remaining for analyses. All analyses throughout the chapter were conducted with survey weights applied.

Measures of post-transition difficulties

There have been a range of measures of the success of children's transition to secondary school used in previous research. For example, West et al. (2010) asked students how well they coped with the first few weeks of secondary school (with response options from "very easy" to "very hard"), followed by specific items that they may have had trouble with. Rice, Frederickson, and Seymour (2010) used a measure that asked students about their "concerns about starting secondary school". This was asked twice - while the students were in primary school, and later, after the children had started secondary school. Waters, Lester, Wenden, and Cross (2012) used a measure that asked children to rate their transition experience from primary to secondary school (with response options from "difficult" to "easy").

The main measure of transition "success" used in this chapter is a question asked of children (in the child self-report component) and Parent 1s (which is most often their mothers) when they reported that they had changed schools since the previous wave. Children and Parent 1s were first asked whether the child had experienced any difficulties with changing schools. Those who reported that the child had experienced difficulties were asked if they had specific difficulties with:

• making new friends;
• missing friends from previous school;
• coping in a larger school with more students;
• dealing with more school subjects with different teachers;
• coping with more demanding schoolwork;
• being required to do more homework;
• managing different travel arrangements to/from school; and
• other.

Respondents answered each item with a "yes" or "no".

Measures of pre-transition factors

As outlined in the introduction, there are a number of pre-transition factors that may influence children's post-transition difficulties. These include socio-emotional wellbeing, temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school, and parenting style and parental investment. Measures were derived from LSAC Wave 4 data and are presented in Table 5.1 (on page 87).

Control variables

It is possible that the amount of time between the beginning of the secondary school year and the LSAC interview may have affected children's (and their parent's) recall and reporting of events. Gillison, Standage, and Skevington (2008) found a meaningful improvement in the self-reported Quality of Life scale within the first 10 weeks of the first term of secondary school, and concluded that children adjust to the school transition relatively quickly. On the other hand, it is also possible that having their LSAC interview later in the year means that children have more time to experience more of the challenges of secondary school, and are therefore more likely to report them. Time between the beginning of the school year and interview date was calculated as the difference between Wave 5 interview date and the school starting date in the year when the child started secondary school.3

The study also controlled for child's age at the beginning of the school year and child's gender (see discussion in section 5.1).4 All analyses throughout the chapter were conducted with survey weights applied.

 Table 5.1: Variables for risk factors

Variable	Measure	Sample question/response options	Categories
Socio-emotional wellbeing
Hyperactivity problems	Average of SDQ hyperactivity problem subscale (5 items)	Restless, overactive, cannot stay still for long; 1 (not true) to 3 (certainly true)	1 = highest (top 20%)   0 = lowest/average (rest 80%)
Emotional problems	Average of SDQ emotional problem subscale (5 items)	Many worries or often seems worried; 1 (not true) to 3 (certainly true)	1 = highest (top 20%)   0 = lowest/average (rest 80%)
Peer problems	Average of SDQ peer problem subscale (5 items)	Rather solitary, tends to play alone; 1 (not true) to 3 (certainly true)	1 = highest (top 20%)   0 = lowest/average (rest 80%)
Conduct problems	Average of SDQ conduct problem subscale (5 items)	Often fights with other children or bullies them; 1 (not true) to 3 (certainly true)	1 = highest (top 20%)   0 = lowest/average (rest 80%)
Total socio-emotional problems	SDQ total problems	Total scores of SDQ hyperactivity, emotional, peer and conduct problems; 0 (low) to 40 (high)
Prosocial behaviour	Average of SDQ prosocial subscale (5 items)	Considerate of other people's feelings; 1 (not true) to 3 (certainly true)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Temperament
Reactivity	Average of SATI reactivity subscale (4 items)	Reacts strongly (cries or complains loudly) to a disappointment or failure; 1 (never) to 5 (always)	1 = highest (top 20%)   0 = lowest/average (rest 80%)
Persistence	Average of SATI persistence subscale (4 items)	Remembers to do homework without being reminded; 1 (never) to 5 (always)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Sociability	Average of SATI introversion subscale (reversed) (4 items)	Seems uncomfortable when at someone's house for the first time; 1 (never) to 5 (always) (reverse coded)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Academic performance
Numeracy	Average of NAPLAN numeracy score	NAPLAN numeracy score	Year 5 NAPLAN scores
Reading	Average of NAPLAN reading score	NAPLAN reading score	Year 5 NAPLAN scores
Experiences in primary school
School liking	Average of school adjustment scale (12 items)	My school is a place where I feel happy;1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Schoolwork enjoyment	Average of school avoidance scale (reverse) (3 items)	Do you like maths and number work at school? 1 = yes, 2 = sometimes, or 3 = no (reverse coded)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Approach to learning	Average of approach to learning scale (6 items)	How often did this child show eagerness to learn new things? 1 = never, 2 = sometimes, 3 = often, 4 = very often.	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Experience of unfriendly behaviours	Average of bullying scale (4 items)	Thinking back over the last 12 months, did another child or children pick on you by shoving, pushing or hitting you? 1 = yes, 0 = no	1 = highest (top 20%)   0 = lowest/average (rest 80%)
Parenting style and parental investment
Parental warmth	Average of parental warmth scale (6 items)	In the last 6 months how often did you tell this child how happy he/she makes you? 1 (never) to 5 (almost always/always)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Inductive reasoning	Average of inductive reasoning scale (5 items)	In the last 6 months how often did you talk it over and reason with this child when he/she misbehaved? 1 (never) to 5 (almost always/always)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Angry parenting	Average of hostile parenting scale (6 items)	How often are you angry when you punish study child? 1 (never/almost never) to 5 (all the time)	1 = highest (top 20%)   0 = lowest/average (rest 80%)
Consistent parenting	Average of consistent parenting scale (5 items)	When you give study child an instruction or request to do something, how often do you make sure that he/she does it? 1 (never/almost never) to 5 (all the time)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Parental self-efficacy	Average of parental self-efficacy scale (4 items)	Do you think that this child's behaviour is more than you can handle? 1 (never/almost never) to 5 (always/almost always)	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Parents and children talk about school	Average of parents and children talk about school activities score (single item)	How often do you and study child talk about his/her school activities? 1 = daily, 2 = a few times a week, 3 = about once a week, 4 = a few times a month, 5 = rarely or never	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)
Parental confidence in being able to help child with school	Average of feelings about guidance for study child score (3 items)	I know how to help my child do well in school; 1 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree)	1 = daily   0 = less frequent
Children's participation in extracurricular activities	Average of extracurricular activities score (8 items)	In the last 12 months has child regularly participated in any of the following activities? (e.g., team sport); 0 = no, 1 = yes	1 = lowest (bottom 20%)   0 = highest/average (rest 80%)

Note: n = 2,226. SDQ = Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SATI = School-Age Temperament Inventory; NAPLAN = National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Wave 4

5.4Difficulties experienced with the transition to secondary school

This section explores differences between children and their parents in whether they reported the child as having difficulties with the transition to a new secondary school. Table 5.2 shows that 17% of parents and 15% of children reported some type of difficulty with the study child's transition to secondary school.

Table 5.2 also shows the specific difficulties that children may have experienced with the transition to secondary school. In general, the proportions of parents and children reporting that children had difficulties with each of the items were similar and fairly small. However, the ranking of the items by frequency of reporting is different for the two groups. The difficulty most commonly reported by parents and children was with "making new friends" (7% of all parents and all children); and the least reported difficulties were with "managing different travel arrangements to/from school" and "other" experiences.

 Table 5.2: Difficulties experienced with transition to secondary school, child and parent reports

Child reports	%	Parent reports	%
Any difficulties	14.7	Any difficulties	17.4
Specific difficulties experienced with transition		Specific difficulties experienced with transition
Making new friends	6.9	Making new friends	7.2
Missing friends from previous school	6.7	Coping with larger school with more students	6.0
Being required to do more homework	4.3	Dealing with more school subjects with different teachers	5.7
Dealing with more school subjects with different teachers	3.9	Missing friends from previous school	5.6
Coping with larger school with more students	3.5	Coping with more demanding schoolwork	5.3
Coping with more demanding schoolwork	3.0	Being required to do more homework	3.6
Managing different travel arrangements to/from school	1.6	Other	3.5
Other	1.6	Managing different travel arrangements to/from school	1.6
Total no. of observations	2,166	Total no. of observations	2,299

Source: LSAC K cohort, Wave 5

For children, the next most commonly selected items were "missing their friends from their previous school" (second highest for children, fourth highest for parents) and "being required to do more homework" (third highest for children, sixth highest for parents). The next most commonly selected items for parents, on the other hand, were that their children had struggled with "coping with a larger school with more students" (second highest for parents, fifth highest for children) and with "dealing with more school subjects with different teachers" (third highest for parents, fourth highest for children). In addition, while the proportion of parents and children reporting difficulties with making new friends was very similar (around 7%), a larger proportion of children than parents reported difficulties with missing friends and being required to do homework; while parents were concerned more about the child dealing with a greater number of school subjects and coping with a larger school.

Overall, fewer children reported difficulties with school transition than their parents. Children more often said that they were having trouble missing their friends and with homework, whereas parents more frequently reported that their children were having trouble with factors related to the size and structure of secondary school.

The differences between the two respondent groups are explored in Table 5.3 (on page 90) in further detail. The table shows for each specific difficulty (and overall difficulties) whether both or neither the child and their parent reported it as a problem, or whether it was reported by the child only or parent only. Table 5.3 shows a similar pattern of results to those seen in Table 5.2. In 7% of families, only the child reported having difficulties, and in 9% of families, only the parent reported the child having difficulties. Taken together, in 8% of families, both parent and child agreed that the child had experienced some sort of difficulty with the transition to secondary school, and 76% agreed that the child had not experienced difficulties.

 Table 5.3: Difficulties experienced with transition to secondary school, by whether reported by children and/or parents

	Child only (%)	Parent only (%)	Both (%)	Neither (%)
Any difficulties	6.8	9.4	7.8	76.0
Specific difficulties experienced with transition
Making new friends	4.1	4.2	2.9	88.9
Missing friends from previous school	4.2	3.1	2.5	90.2
Coping with larger school with more students	2.3	4.9	1.2	91.7
Dealing with more school subjects with different teachers	2.8	4.7	1.0	91.5
Coping with more demanding schoolwork	2.0	4.4	1.0	92.6
Being required to do more homework	3.4	2.8	0.9	92.9
Managing different travel arrangements to/from school	1.4	1.4	0.2	97.0

Note: n = 2,166.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Wave 5

Looking at specific difficulties, 3% of both parents and children agreed that the child had difficulties with "making new friends". However, 4% of children only and a further 4% of parents only reported that the child had this difficulty (i.e., for this 8% of children, the difficulty was only reported by either the parent or the child, but not both). Difficulties with missing friends from their previous school were more commonly reported by children only (4%) rather than parents only (3%). Conversely, difficulties coping with a larger school were more commonly reported by parents only (5%) than children only (2%). Again, however, the proportions of parents and children reporting difficulties were small.

Table 5.4 shows the percentage of children and parents reporting that children had multiple difficulties with the transition to a new secondary school. Eight per cent of parents reported that the study child had difficulty with only one aspect of the transition, while only 6% of the children reported one difficulty. The proportions for each of the child and parent groups were the same for two (4%), three (2%) and four (1%) difficulties. Two per cent of parents and 1% of children reported that children had difficulties with five or more aspects of the transition.

 Table 5.4: Experience of multiple difficulties in transition to secondary school, child and parent reports

	Child reports (%)	Parent reports (%)
No difficulties	85.3	82.6
One difficulty	5.9	8.2
Two difficulties	4.3	3.7
Three difficulties	2.3	2.4
Four difficulties	1.4	1.2
Five or more difficulties	0.9	1.8
Total no. of observations	2,166	2,299

Note: Percentages may not total exactly to 100.0% due to rounding.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Wave 5

In summary, this section has shown that while the majority of children and parents did not report the child as having difficulties with the transition to secondary school, 15% of children and 17% of parents reported at least one difficulty (see Table 5.4). Both parents and children reported that the most common difficulty for children during the transition to secondary school was making new friends. Even though there was some discrepancy between child and parent responses, around 84% of parents and children were in agreement about how well the child had transitioned to secondary school (i.e., 76% of parents and children agreed that the child did not experience any difficulties and 8% of children and parents agreed that the child experienced difficulties with the transition). It is also worth noting that in cases where difficulties were reported, it was relatively uncommon for them to be reported by both parties. For example, 2% of the children in the sample and 4% of their parents (a total of 6%) reported that the children had difficulty with coping with more demanding schoolwork; however, only 1% of children had this difficulty reported by both parties (see Table 5.3).

For all analyses reported in the remainder of this chapter, we use the overall measure of whether children had experienced any difficulties with the transition to a new secondary school, because of the relatively small number of respondents reporting difficulties with each of the specific experiences.

5.5Exploring pre-transition factors associated with post-transition difficulties

This section aims to explore the characteristics and experiences of children that may be positively or negatively related to difficulties in transition to secondary school (discussed broadly in section 5.1). The following pre-transition characteristics and experiences are examined:

• socio-emotional wellbeing;
• temperament;
• academic performance;
• experiences in primary school; and
• parenting style and parental investment.

Children's characteristics and experiences were measured at Wave 4 when they were 10-11 years old, and child and parent reports of whether or not the child had experienced any difficulties transitioning to secondary school were taken at Wave 5 when they were 12-13 years old. Three steps were used to examine the associations between children's experiences of difficulties and each of the pre-transition characteristics and experiences:

1. Unadjusted association: We began by looking at the bivariate association between each pre-transition factor and children's post-transition difficulties.

2. Adjusted association: We then assessed the unique association between each pre-transition factor (e.g., hyperactivity) and children's post-transition difficulties, while adjusting for other pre-transition factors in the subset (e.g., other socio-emotional wellbeing variables), as well as the child's age, gender and time between the beginning of the secondary school year and their Wave 5 interview.

3. Joint significance: Because variables were highly inter-correlated with each other,5 in addition to testing the robustness of the individual association between each variables and children's school transition within each model, Wald tests6 were conducted to assess the joint influence of the five subsets of pre-transition characteristics and experiences while adjusting for all factors in the subset, if variables were not significantly associated with children's post-transition difficulties on their own (from step 2).

Analyses were conducted separately for child reports and parent reports of difficulties. Given that children's and parents' responses were not independent, comparisons between them were not performed.

Socio-emotional wellbeing

This section examines the relationship between children's post-transition difficulties reported at Wave 5 (12-13 years) and their socio-emotional wellbeing assessed at Wave 4 (10-11 years). Children's socio-emotional wellbeing was measured using the five separate subscales (peer problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity, emotional problems and prosocial behaviours) of the SDQ. Children with high levels of hyperactivity, emotional problems, peer problems and conduct problems (top 20%) and low scores on the prosocial scale (bottom 20%) were compared to the remaining children. When interpreting the results, it should be kept in mind that children with "worse" scores (i.e., top 20% of hyperactivity) had relatively poorer socio-emotional wellbeing than other children. However, this does not mean that children with worse scores have clinically significant problems.

Unadjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

We begin by looking at the unadjusted differences in the percentages of child- and parent-reported difficulties by each socio-emotional wellbeing variable. As can be seen in Table 5.5, both child- and parent-reported post-transition difficulties were significantly different according to children's pre-transition socio-emotional wellbeing. Children whose parents rated them as having more socio-emotional problems (hyperactivity, emotional problems, peer problems and conduct problems) were more likely to experience difficulties transitioning to secondary school, as reported by both the parent and the study child. For example, 20% of children whose parents rated them high on the measure of conduct problems self-reported as having difficulties transitioning to secondary school, compared to 14% of children rated as low/average on the measure of conduct problems. Twenty three per cent of children with high scores on the conduct problems scale had parents who reported them as having difficulties with the transition to secondary school, compared to 17% of children whose parents rated them as low/average on the measure of conduct problems.

In addition, children who were rated low on the prosocial scale by their parents were more likely to report difficulties moving to secondary school (19%), compared to those rated more favourably on the prosocial scale (13%). A similar pattern is seen for parent-reported difficulties.

 Table 5.5: Pre-transition socio-emotional wellbeing, by child- and parent-reported post-transition difficulties

Socio-emotional wellbeing (SDQ subscales)		Child reports of difficulties		Parent reports of difficulties
%	p	%	p
Hyperactivity problems	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Highest 20%	22.4	**		28.8	***
Remaining 80%	13.3	15.6
Emotional problems	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Highest 20%	21.0	***		27.0	***
Remaining 80%	13.1	15.3
Peer problems	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Highest 20%	23.1	***		26.2	***
Remaining 80%	13.3	16.3
Conduct problems	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Highest 20%	19.7	*		23.0	**
Remaining 80%	13.6	16.5
Prosocial behaviour	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Lowest 20%	19.2	*		20.9	*
Remaining 80%	13.3	16.8

Notes: Sample sizes vary due to missing cases. p values refer to the significance of differences in proportions from chi-square tests: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Adjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

We then tested the robustness of the associations between children's socio-emotional wellbeing and their post-transition difficulties, adjusting for all the socio-emotional wellbeing variables (hyperactivity, emotional problems, peer problems, conduct problems and prosocial skills), as well as the child's age, gender and time between the beginning of school and the Wave 5 interview (Table 5.6 on page 93).

 Table 5.6: Unique and joint significance of association between children's pre-transition socio-emotional wellbeing and reported post-transition difficulties

Reports of difficulties		Unique significance a					Joint significance b
Hyperactivity problems	Emotional problems	Peer problems	Conduct problems	Prosocial behaviour
Child reports	ns	ns	*	ns	ns	*
Parent reports	**	**	ns	ns	ns	ns

Note: a Multivariate analysis was performed to test the unique association between children's pre-transition socio-emotional wellbeing and reported post-transition difficulties. b Wald tests performed to assess the joint significance of variables that are individually insignificant. Analyses adjusted for child's age, gender and time between the beginning of the secondary school year and their Wave 5 interview. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

The association between children's peer problems and child-reported post-transition difficulties remained significant after adjusting for the five socio-emotional wellbeing variables as well as the child's age, gender and time between the beginning of school and the Wave 5 interview. The associations between child-reported post-transition difficulties and the other four socio-emotional wellbeing variables were no longer significant in the adjusted model. However, hyperactivity and emotional problems remained significantly associated with children's post-transition difficulties as reported by the parent in the adjusted model. Parents of children with higher levels of hyperactivity and emotional problems were more likely to report that their child experienced difficulties with this transition after adjusting for other socio-emotional wellbeing variables and the child's age, gender and time between the beginning of school and the Wave 5 interview.

Joint significance of socio-emotional wellbeing variables

The socio-emotional difficulty variables (hyperactivity, emotional problems, peer problems and conduct problems) were related to each other.7 As a result, while each of the SDQ subscales were associated with difficulties with the transition to secondary school when included in the unadjusted models (Table 5.5), some were no longer significantly related to children's difficulties during transition when all five socio-emotional wellbeing variables were included in one model (Table 5.6). Therefore, the joint influence of these variables was also tested in the model, adjusting for all the variables in the socio-emotional wellbeing subset.

The results indicate that, as a group, hyperactivity, emotional problems, conduct problems and prosocial skills were jointly significant in explaining child-reported difficulties, even after peer-problems was taken into account. However, for parent-reported difficulties, peer problems, conduct problems and prosocial skills, taken as a group, were not significant predictors.

Temperament

In this section, the role of children's temperament assessed at Wave 4 (10-11 years) in their experiences during school transition reported at Wave 5 (12-13 years) is examined. Children in the top 20% of the reactivity subscale and bottom 20% of the persistence and sociability subscales of SATI were compared to others.

Unadjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

Table 5.7 (on page 94) shows that two of the three measures of temperament were significantly associated with both child- and parent-reported difficulties. Children whose parents rated them as high on the measure of reactivity and low on the measure of persistence were significantly more likely to report difficulties transitioning to secondary school, as reported by children and their parents. However, low levels of sociability did not show any significant association with the success of transition to secondary school. A similar pattern is seen for parent-reported difficulties.

 Table 5.7: Pre-transition temperament, by child- and parent-reported post-transition difficulties

Temperament (SATI subscales)		Child reports of difficulties		Parent reports of difficulties
%	p	%	p
Reactivity	n = 2,010		n = 2,128
Highest 20%	20.4	*		22.7	*
Remaining 80%	13.8	16.9
Persistence	n = 2,010		n = 2,127
Lowest 20%	20.4	**		26.4	***
Remaining 80%	12.9	14.9
Sociability	n = 2,010		n = 2,128
Lowest 20%	17.3	ns		19.9	ns
Remaining 80%	14.3	17.4

Notes: Sample sizes vary due to missing cases. p values refer to the significance of differences in proportions from chi-square tests: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Adjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

Children's reactivity, persistence and sociability, as well as child age, gender and time between the beginning of school and the Wave 5 interview were included in one regression model to assess the unique association of each temperament variable with children's post-transition difficulties.8 As Table 5.8 shows, children's persistence was significantly related to both child- and parent-reported difficulties over and above other variables. On the other hand, reactivity and sociability were not statistically significant.

Joint significance of temperament variables

We then tested the joint significance of reactivity and sociability in the model, adjusting for all three temperament variables (Table 5.8). Together the two temperament characteristics were not significantly related to children's post-transition difficulties, as reported by both children and their parents.

 Table 5.8: Unique and joint significance of association between children's pre-transition temperament and reported post-transition difficulties

Reports of difficulties		Unique significance a			Joint significance b
Reactivity	Persistence	Sociability
Child reports	ns	**	ns	ns
Parent reports	ns	***	ns	ns

Note: a Multivariate analysis was performed to test the unique association between children's pre-transition temperament and reported post-transition difficulties. b Wald tests were performed to assess the joint significance of variables that are individually insignificant. Analyses adjusted for child's age, gender and time between the beginning of the secondary school year and their Wave 5 interview. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Academic performance

This section explores how children's post-transition difficulties are related to their pre-transition academic performance, as indicated by the NAPLAN reading and numeracy scores in Year 5.

Unadjusted differences in children's academic performance

As can be seen in Table 5.9 (on page 95), for child-reported difficulties, the difference was only statistically significant for children's numeracy performance. Differences in children's reading performance were not significantly associated with child-reported post-transition difficulties. For parent-reported difficulties, children with higher reading scores were less likely to have difficulties than children with lower reading scores.

 Table 5.9: Year 5 NAPLAN numeracy and reading scores, by child- and parent-reported post-transition difficulties

Academic performance (NAPLAN)		Child reports of difficulties		Parent reports of difficulties
Mean score	p	Mean score	p
Numeracy	n = 1,841		n = 1,949
Difficulties reported	487.6	*		491.0	ns
Difficulties not reported	501.1	500.9
Reading	n = 1,857		n = 1,964
Difficulties reported	505.8	ns		494.0	*
Difficulties not reported	498.3	506.2

Notes: Sample sizes vary due to missing cases. p values refer to the significance of differences in proportions from bivariate regression tests: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Adjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

Children's Year 5 reading and numeracy scores were included in one regression model simultaneously (Table 5.10). After adjusting for child's age, gender and the time between the beginning of the secondary school year and the Wave 5 interview, children's numeracy performance continued to show a significant association with child-reported difficulties with the transition to secondary school. Children with lower scores on the NAPLAN measure of numeracy skills were more likely to later self-report as having difficulties transitioning to secondary school. However, children's reading performance was no longer significantly associated with parent-reported difficulties.

Joint significance of academic performance

Given children's numeracy and reading performances were highly correlated,9 the joint significance of these two variables in explaining parent-reported difficulties was also tested. Table 5.10 shows children's numeracy and reading performance on NAPLAN were not jointly significant in influencing parent-reported difficulties after adjusting for children's age, gender and time between the beginning of school and the Wave 5 interview.

 Table 5.10: Unique and joint significance of association between children's pre-transition academic performance and reported post-transition difficulties

Reports of difficulties		Unique significance a		Joint significance b
Numeracy	Reading
Child reports	*	ns	not tested
Parent reports	ns	ns	ns

Note: a Multivariate analysis was performed to test the unique association between children's pre-transition academic performance and reported post-transition difficulties. b Wald tests were performed to assess the joint significance of variables that are individually insignificant. The joint significance of academic performance to child-reported difficulties was not tested because reading is the only variable that is not individually significant. Analyses adjusted for child's age, gender and time between the beginning of the secondary school year and their Wave 5 interview. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Experiences in the last years of primary school

This section looks at elements of children's experiences in primary school and examines whether they are associated with how well children transition to secondary school. Children with more negative experiences in primary school were compared to those with more favourable experiences in terms of whether or not they and their parents reported them as having difficulties transitioning to secondary school.

Unadjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

Table 5.11 shows the same pattern of results for both child- and parent-reported difficulties; all primary-school related variables had a significant association with both child- and parent-reported difficulties with the transition to secondary school.

 Table 5.11: Pre-transition experiences in primary school, by child- and parent-reported post-transition difficulties

Experiences in primary school		Child reports of difficulties		Parent reports of difficulties
%	p	%	p
School liking	n = 1,994		n = 2,105
Lowest 20%	20.6	***		25.1	***
Remaining 80%	13.0	15.5
Schoolwork enjoyment	n = 1,998		n = 2,109
Lowest 20%	21.4	**		27.6	**
Remaining 80%	14.0	16.8
Approach to learning	n = 1,632		n = 1,722
Lowest 20%	20.6	**		25.1	***
Remaining 80%	13.2	15.0
Experience of unfriendly behaviours	n = 2,008		n = 2,121
Highest 20%	18.4	***		21.9	***
Remaining 80%	12.1	14.9

Notes: Sample sizes vary due to missing cases. p values refer to the significance of differences in proportions from chi-square tests: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Children who reported liking primary school or enjoying schoolwork the least were more likely to be reported by the child or the parent as experiencing difficulties moving to secondary school. Children whose teachers rated them as having a lower level of positive learning behaviours were more likely to self-report as having problems transitioning to secondary school (21%, compared to 13% of children with average/high scores on the measure of approach to learning). Similar results were observed in parent-reported post-transition difficulties.

Children who reported experiencing more types of unfriendly behaviour in primary school were more likely to self-report and have parents report them as having difficulties transitioning to secondary school, compared to those who reported an average/low number of types of experiences of unfriendly behaviour.

Adjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

Multivariate analyses were then performed to test the robustness of the associations between children's pre-transition school experiences and their post-transition difficulties. Significant results of multivariate analyses are reported in Table 5.12 (on page 97).

After adjusting for all the variables of school liking, schoolwork enjoyment, approach to learning and experience of unfriendly behaviours, as well as the child's age, gender and time between the start of school and interview, it was found that child-reported school liking in primary school was significantly related to both child- and parent-reported difficulties, over and above other factors. That is, those who liked primary school were less likely to experience difficulties during the transition to secondary school.

The teacher-rated approach to learning in primary school continued to show a significant association with parent-reported (but not child-reported) difficulties. Children who were rated as having less positive learning behaviours by their teacher were significantly more likely to be identified by their parents as having difficulties during transition.

Joint significance of experiences in primary school

The four variables of previous experiences in primary school were highly correlated with each other.10 The joint significance of all variables that did not show unique significance was tested. Together the variables had a statistically significant influence on the likelihood of children's success in transition to secondary school, as reported by children (Table 5.12). This suggests that children who had overall positive experiences in primary school generally experienced fewer difficulties transitioning to secondary school. However, schoolwork enjoyment and experiences of unfriendly behaviours were not significantly related to parent-reported difficulties.

 Table 5.12: Unique and joint significance of association between children's pre-transition experiences in primary school and reported post-transition difficulties

Reports of difficulties		Unique significance a				Joint significance b
School liking	Schoolwork enjoyment	Approach to learning	Experience of unfriendly behaviours
Child reports	*	ns	ns	ns	*
Parent reports	*	ns	**	ns	ns

Notes: a Multivariate analysis was performed to test the unique association between children's pre-transition experiences in primary school and reported post-transition difficulties. b Wald tests were performed to assess the joint significance for variables that are individually insignificant. Analyses adjusted for child's age, gender and time between the beginning of the secondary school year and their Wave 5 interview. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Parenting style and parental investment

This section looks at how elements of parenting style and parental investment (measured when children were 10-11 years old) are associated with children's post-transition difficulties two years later.

Unadjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

Table 5.13 (on page 98) presents a descriptive overview of children's post-transition difficulties according to their experience of parenting style (e.g., warm parenting, consistent parenting, angry parenting) and level of parental investment (e.g., in extracurricular activities). Both child- and parent-reported post-transition difficulties were significantly different according to angry parenting. Parents who rated themselves as having high scores on the measure of "angry parenting" had children who were significantly more likely to self-report having difficulties transitioning to secondary school. Parents who scored in the top 20% on the measure of angry parenting were also more likely to later report that their child had struggled with the move to secondary school.

Parents who reported low self-efficacy were more likely to report that their child had experienced difficulties during school transition. In addition, parents who reported being less confident about their abilities to support their children with school also had children who were significantly more likely to self-report having difficulties with the transition. However, parent-reported difficulties were not significantly different according to their confidence in being able to help them to do well with school.

There were no significant differences in children's post-transition difficulties associated with the other measures of parenting style (parental warmth, inductive reasoning, consistent parenting). Child-reported difficulties were also not significantly different according to how frequently they talked with their parent about school-related activities, or how many extracurricular activities they participated in.

 Table 5.13: Pre-transition parenting style and parental investment, by child- and parent-reported post-transition difficulties

Parenting style and parental investment		Child reports of difficulties		Parent reports of difficulties
%	p	%	p
Parental warmth	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Lowest 20%	16.7	ns		18.2	ns
Remaining 80%	14.3	17.7
Inductive reasoning	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Lowest 20%	13.9	ns		15.0	ns
Remaining 80%	15.0	18.6
Angry parenting	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Highest 20%	18.2	*		22.7	**
Remaining 80%	13.4	15.8
Consistent parenting	n = 2,009		n = 2,127
Lowest 20%	15.8	ns		16.9	ns
Remaining 80%	14.4	20.5
Parental self-efficacy	n = 2,008		n = 2,126
Lowest 20%	17.3	ns		24.4	***
Remaining 80%	13.9	15.6
Parents and children talk about school	n = 2,016		n = 2,137
Daily	14.5	ns		17.3	ns
Less frequent	15.0	19.8
Parental confidence in being able to help child with school	n = 2,006		n = 2,123
Lowest 20%	19.6	*		22.0	ns
Remaining 80%	13.9	17.1
Children's participation in extracurricular activities	n = 2,024		n = 2,145
Lowest 20%	13.9	ns		19.4	ns
Remaining 80%	15.0	16.5

Notes: Sample sizes vary due to missing cases. p values refer to the significance of differences in proportions from chi-square tests: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Adjusted associations with post-transition difficulties

It was then investigated whether the significant differences in the associations between parenting behaviours and child- and parent-reported difficulties seen in Table 5.13 remained significant after adjusting for all of the examined parenting variables. Multivariate models were conducted separately for child-reported and parent-reported difficulties, including all of the parenting style variables, the child's age, gender and time between the beginning of the secondary school year and the Wave 5 interview.

The results (Table 5.14 on page 99) indicate that none of the associations between child-reported difficulties and individual parenting variables remained significant after all other variables were taken into account. However, parental self-efficacy continued to be related to children's experiences of difficulties as reported by parents, over and above other variables.

Joint significance of parenting style and parental investment

As can be seen in Table 5.14, the joint significance of variables in the subset of parenting style was not significant on child-reported difficulties. On the other hand, parental warmth, inductive reasoning, angry parenting (reversed) and consistent parenting showed significant combined influence on parent-reported difficulties after adjusting for parenting efficacy.11

 Table 5.14: Unique and joint significance of association between children's pre-transition experiences of primary school and reported post-transition difficulties

Reports of difficulties		Unique significance a					Joint significance b
Parental warmth	Inductive reasoning	Angry parenting	Consistent parenting	Parental self-efficacy
Child reports	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
Parent reports	ns	ns	ns	ns	*	*

Note: a Multivariate analysis was performed to test the unique association of parenting style and parental investment and post-transition difficulties. b Wald tests were performed to assess the joint significance of variables that are individually insignificant. Analyses adjusted for child's age, gender and time between the beginning of the secondary school year and the Wave 5 interview. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

Overall factors related to a successful transition to a new secondary school

This final section determines which of the pre-transition characteristics and experiences examined in previous sections (socio-emotional wellbeing, temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school, and parenting style and parental investment) are the most important factors associated with a successful transition to secondary school. As discussed previously, SDQ problem variables (hyperactivity, emotional problems, peer problems, conduct problems) were highly inter-correlated and significantly accounted for variation in both child- and parent-reported difficulties. Therefore, the total score of SDQ problem scales was used rather than including each individual SDQ problem.

Adjusted associations with post-transition difficulties in a fully adjusted model

A final set of analyses was run containing all the variables of socio-emotional wellbeing (SDQ total problem score and pro-social score), temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school and parenting behaviours; and taking into account the child's age, gender and the time between the beginning of the school year and the Wave 5 interview. The "unique significance" column of Table 5.15 (on page 100) reports unique associations of each pre-transition factor with children's post-transition difficulties in the fully adjusted model.

When all the variables were taken into account, we found that:

• behavioural and emotional problems as measured by the total SDQ problem scores showed a significant association with both child- and parent-reported difficulties; and
• children's participation in extracurricular activities showed a significant association with parent-reported difficulties (but not child-reported difficulties) during the transition to secondary school.

Joint significance of each subset in a fully adjusted model

The joint significance of each subset of variables was also tested. Variables that did not show unique significance in the fully adjusted model were included in each subset. Since the SDQ total problem scores showed a significant unique association with both child- and parent-reported difficulties in the fully adjusted model, a test of the joint effect of socio-emotional wellbeing was not performed. The influence of each of the four subsets of variables - temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school, and parenting style and parental investment (except children's participation in extracurricular activities) - on the post-transition difficulties were tested as a group, taking the other subsets into account as well as the child's age, gender and the time between the start of school and the Wave 5 interview. The results of these tests (reported in the "joint significance" column of Table 5.15) indicate that:

• child temperament variables (hyperactivity, persistence and reactivity) were not significant as a group in influencing child- or parent-reported difficulties with transitioning into secondary school;
• children's experiences in primary school (liking school, enjoying schoolwork, approach to learning and experiences of unfriendly behaviours) were jointly significant in shaping parent-reported (but not child-reported) difficulties during school transition; and
• the combined effect of parenting variables (parental warmth, inductive reasoning and angry parenting, etc.) on children's post-transition difficulties was not significant.

 Table 5.15: Unique and joint significance of association between children's pre-transition factors and reported post-transition difficulties

	Child reports		Parent reports
	Unique significance a	Joint significance b	Unique significance a	Joint significance b
Socio-emotional wellbeing
Total socio-emotional problems	***	not tested		**	not tested
Prosocial behaviour	ns	ns
Temperament
Reactivity	ns	ns			ns	ns
Persistence	ns	ns
Sociability	ns	ns
Academic performance
Numeracy	ns	ns		ns	ns
Reading	ns	ns
Experiences in primary school
School liking	ns	ns				ns	*
Schoolwork enjoyment	ns	ns
Approach to learning	ns	ns
Experience of unfriendly behaviours	ns	ns
Parenting style and parental investment
Parental warmth	ns	ns								ns	ns
Inductive reasoning	ns	ns
Angry parenting	ns	ns
Consistent parenting	ns	ns
Parental self-efficacy	ns	ns
Parents and children talk about school	ns	ns
Parental confidence in being able to help child with school	ns	ns
Children's participation in extracurricular activities	ns	*

Notes: a Multivariate analysis was performed to test the unique association between socio-emotional wellbeing, temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school and parenting styles and parental investment variables. b Wald tests performed to assess the joint significance of variables that are individually insignificant, while adjusting for all the variables; the joint effect of socio-emotional wellbeing was not tested because prosocial behaviour was the only variable that was individually insignificant in the subset. Analyses adjusted for child's age, gender and time between the beginning of the secondary school year and the Wave 5 interview. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001, ns = not significant.

Source: LSAC K cohort, Waves 4 and 5

5.6Discussion

This chapter aimed to increase understanding of the most vulnerable children during the transition from primary to secondary school. Using a nationally representative sample, the frequency with which children and their parents reported the child as having a variety of difficulties transitioning to secondary school was analysed.

The results showed that a relatively small proportion of children, and a slightly higher (but still small) proportion of parents, reported the child having difficulties with the transition to secondary school. Building new friendships was the most common difficulty reported by children and their parents. This finding is consistent with previous studies showing that, at a time when friendships and social interaction are particularly important for children, the disruption of friendship networks can pose real challenges, and thereby interfere with their adjustment to a new environment as well as their success in academic achievement (Barone, Aguire-Deandis, & Trickett, 1991). In addition, although children more commonly said they had difficulties with missing their old friends, parents more often reported that their children were having trouble with factors related to the demands of learning tasks and the structure of secondary school (e.g., dealing with the increased number of school subjects and different teachers cf. primary school).

A range of characteristics and experiences of children's lives were considered in order to investigate the individual, as well as the combination of, pre-transition factors associated with post-transition difficulties children experienced. Variables that were included in this chapter were highly inter-correlated. As a result, very few factors showed significant associations with children's experiences of difficulties when the other variables were taken into account. The key factors that were independently related to child- or parent-reported difficulties after adjusting for other factors that are known to influence children's school transition were emotional and behavioural difficulties, children's experiences in primary school and their participation in extracurricular activities.

Among all the factors examined in this chapter, children's emotional and behavioural problems appeared to have the most important influence on children's difficulties transitioning to secondary school. Peer problems, hyperactivity and emotional problems appeared to be particularly important among the variables of socio-emotional wellbeing. Peer problems played an important role in shaping children's experiences of difficulties during school transition, as reported by the study child. It has been reported that peer problems are strongly associated with children's concerns about secondary school (Rice et al., 2010). Kingery, Erdley, and Marshall (2011) also found that pre-transition peer factors - such as peer acceptance and number of friends - predicted post-transition loneliness, self-esteem, school involvement and academic achievement. Given that friendship is a major challenge faced by many children during their transition to secondary school, children with fewer peer problems are more likely to overcome this challenge.

In addition, hyperactivity was associated with parent-reported difficulties. Children's hyperactivity has been found to predict both academic failure and behavioural problems. For example, based on their study of 101 children between the ages of 6 and 11, McConaughy, Volpe, Antshel, Gordon, and Eiraldi (2011) reported that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) not only had significantly lower reading, mathematics and written language scores, but were also rated by their parents and teachers as having lower social skills and social adaptive ability than children without ADHD. Although in this chapter, children who had high hyperactivity (top 20%) in our analysis are not necessarily in the clinical range of this behavioural problem, their parents consider them as more distractible than other children and therefore more likely to have trouble putting the needed attention and effort into extra learning tasks in secondary school.

Children with more emotional problems (e.g., having many worries) also experienced more difficulties than children with fewer emotional problems, as reported by their parent. This is in concordance with findings by West el al. (2010), who found that children with anxiety and low self-esteem were more likely to struggle in the transition to secondary school. As discussed earlier, the most commonly reported difficulty by both children and their parents was related to friendship. It is to be expected that children with higher scores on socio-emotional problem scales will be more likely to experience more of these types of difficulties.

Analyses revealed a significant relationship between children's pre-transition persistence and post-transition difficulties after adjusting for reactivity and sociability. This suggests that children's persistence was the most important temperament factor associated with child- and parent-reported difficulties. Children rated by their parents as having low levels of persistence were more likely to be reported by their parents as having difficulties with the transition to secondary school. The ability to work towards the completion of a task and not give up easily has been identified as a key non-cognitive skill that is linked to both school achievement (Mokrova, O'Brien, Calkins, Leerkes, & Marcovitch, 2013) and labour market outcomes (Heckman, Stixrud, & Urzua, 2006). Both children and their parents reported the demands of learning and schoolwork as difficulties during the transition to secondary school. However, children who are more persistent may be more capable of taking on the additional learning tasks in secondary school, and less likely to experience difficulties. The relationship between children's persistence and their post-transition difficulties was no longer significant in the fully adjusted model. This suggests that while there is an association between children's persistence and post-transition difficulties, there are other factors that have a stronger influence, such as children's socio-emotional wellbeing and parental investment.

The extent to which children enjoy going to primary school appeared to be the most important factor of their previous school experiences. The significant association between "child-reported school liking" at age 10-11 and both child- and parent-reported difficulties with moving to secondary school points to the importance of a child's engagement in primary school for their later success in transitioning to secondary school. This finding is similar to that of West et al. (2010), who found that school disengagement during primary school was a significant risk factor for a poor transition to secondary school. Further research is needed to examine the factors that are associated with school liking itself. In the fully adjusted model, the relationship between children's experiences in primary school and parent-reported post-transition difficulties was no longer significant. This implies that other factors, such as the child's socio-emotional wellbeing, may have a stronger association with parent-reported difficulties than children's previous school experiences does.

In terms of parenting styles, parental investment in children's extracurricular activities was found to significantly influence parents' (but not children's) reports of post-transition difficulties in the fully adjusted model, when other factors were taken into consideration. The parenting factors of self-efficacy, angry parenting and parental confidence in being able to help their child with school were also related to child- and/or parent-reported difficulties. However, the relationships between these factors and children's post-transition difficulties were no longer significant in the fully adjusted model, when other factors such as children's socio-emotional wellbeing and experiences in primary school were taken into account.

In contrast with previous studies, a number of factors were not significantly associated with the difficulties reported by children and their parents, when they are analysed in the context of other variables. For example, academic ability had been found to predict the success of children's transition to secondary school (Serbin et al., 2013). However, children's reading performance, as well as teacher-rated learning behaviours in primary school were not identified as significant factors in this chapter. In addition, children's experiences of unfriendly behaviours in primary school were not found to be associated with the difficulties children had during transition, while Bailey and Baines (2012) reported that students who had been victims of bullying were more likely to have trouble with the transition.

It should be noted that some variables were not independently related to child- and parent-reported difficulties once other characteristics were taken into account. However, these variables should not be ignored as the combination of variables jointly explained the variation in children's success in making the transition to secondary school. For example, although individual measures of hyperactivity, emotional problems, conduct problems and prosocial skills were not significantly associated with children's reports of post-transition difficulties, these four variables as a group were jointly significant, suggesting that children who have overall positive socio-emotional wellbeing tend to have a smoother transition.

Although the time between the beginning of the secondary school year and the time of the children's LSAC interview at Wave 5 was controlled for, it would be beneficial to investigate this issue in further detail. In particular, it would be useful to investigate whether children and/or parents are more likely to report difficulties with the transition to secondary school earlier or later in the year. For example, it is possible that parents are observant of children's success in transitioning to secondary school earlier in the year, and that they do not realise that the process may take longer. Rice et al. (2010) found that students adapt to the organisational aspects of secondary school (e.g., finding their way around, having multiple teachers) more quickly than other aspects such as social structures and the more challenging schoolwork. The timing of the interview may therefore have more nuanced effects on particular aspects of the transition that are worth exploring further.

It would also be informative to investigate the success of children's transitions to secondary school using other measures from LSAC; for example, using teacher reports. Waters et al. (2012) found that 31% of students reported that the transition to secondary school was difficult or somewhat difficult, which is almost double the percentage that reported having any difficulties in this chapter. This demonstrates the effect that even slight variations in wording can have, and reinforces the importance of looking at multiple aspects of "success". Using measures from teachers to assess how well students navigate the transition to secondary school is likely to reveal different variables as important; Bailey and Baines (2012) found that teacher ratings of poor transitions were associated with behaviour, maths attainment and speaking English as a second language.

It is possible that some of the difficulties that arise around this time, and which were associated with difficulties transitioning to a new secondary school in this chapter, are not related to the transition to secondary school per se, but rather are normal developmental changes that occur around adolescence (Bru, Stornes, Munthe, & Thuen, 2010). Investigating alternative measures of transition "success" would also enable comparison with students who did not change schools to start secondary school (this group of students was excluded from this chapter).

In all, this chapter has used an extremely rich data source to shed light on aspects of children's lives that are important during a time of great change as they move from primary to secondary school. Children's experiences of the transition from primary to secondary school may have long-term influences on their wellbeing, educational attainment and career choices (Speering & Rennie, 1996; West et al., 2010). As children's experiences of the primary to secondary school transition have long-term influences on their wellbeing and educational attainment (West, Sweeting, & Young, 2010), the value of LSAC will be further demonstrated as we continue to follow the students through their later secondary school years and beyond.

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1 Zeedyk et al. (2003) found that students and parents had similar views about the challenges facing the students with an upcoming transition to secondary school; however, their sample of British children (472 respondents) was much smaller than that available from LSAC.

2 We used information about the school structure reported by children's teachers at Wave 4 to investigate the 364 cases that had not changed schools, and found that 264 children had remained at the same combined primary-secondary school when transitioning to secondary school in Wave 5. For an additional 100 cases it was not possible to determine their primary-secondary pathways (e.g., because they were in a primary-only school in Wave 4, then were in secondary school in Wave 5, but did not report changing schools in the meantime).

3 The term 1 start dates in 2012 varied between states/territories from 27 January to 5 February.

4 More than half (51%) of the children were male. The mean age at the beginning of the secondary school year was 12.5 years. The mean time between the beginning of the secondary school year and the Wave 5 interview was 6 months.

5 Correlations between the variables socio-emotional wellbeing, temperament, academic performance, experiences in primary school, and parenting style and parental investment were measured by Pearson's correlation.

6 The Wald test is used to test the joint significance of a subset of coefficients in a statistical model.

7 Socio-emotional difficulty variables were moderately to highly correlated to each other; Pearson's correlation coefficients ranged from 0.35 to 0.52.

8 Temperament variables were related to each other; Pearson's correlation coefficients ranged from -0.39 to 0.15.

9 Variables of previous experiences in primary school were highly related to each other; Pearson's correlation coefficients ranged from -0.10 to -0.52.

10 Variables of previous experiences in primary school were highly related to each other; Pearson's correlation coefficients ranged from -0.10 to -0.52.

11 The influence of other parenting variables - such as "parents and children talk about school activities", "parental confidence in being able to help child with school" and "children's participation in extracurricular activities" - possibly cancel each other out due to time constraints and not being jointly significant.