Meta-Analysis Highlights Link Between Socioeconomic Status and Academic Performance

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Selvitopu, A., & Kaya, M. (2021). A meta-analytic review of the effect of socioeconomic status on academic performance. Journal of Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220574211031978

Introduction

Selvitopu and Kaya (2021) conducted a meta-analysis to examine the association between students’ socioeconomic status (SES) and academic performance across global contexts. Building on earlier syntheses, the authors analyzed whether the magnitude of the SES–achievement relationship varies by methodological and contextual moderators.

Methods

The authors analyzed 48 independent studies published between 2010 and 2019, yielding 62 samples and 203 effect sizes (total N = 386,601). Studies met strict inclusion criteria: reporting correlational data between SES and academic achievement, sampling students from preprimary through higher education, and providing sufficient statistical information. Random-effects meta-analysis was conducted using Pearson’s r as the effect size. Moderator analyses tested SES measurement type, assessment scale, subject domain, grade level, location, and year. Publication bias analyses indicated no detectable bias.

Results

Across contexts and measures, SES remains a meaningful predictor of academic performance. The overall association is moderate and positive (r = .25), indicating that higher socioeconomic status is consistently linked to higher academic achievement

  • SES type: Parental occupation (r = .31) shows the strongest association with achievement; family income and parental education were weaker (r = .20).
  • Grade level: The association was strongest in preprimary education (r = .31) and weakest in higher education (r = .05).
  • Subject domain: Mathematics showed the largest effect (r = .37), while science (r = .26) and language (r = .25) show moderate associations.

Discussion

These findings align with prior synthesis in the literature: socioeconomic status remains moderately and positively associated with academic performance. The stronger effects in early grades suggest cumulative advantage processes consistent with social reproduction theory (Marks, 2009). The weaker association in higher education may reflect compensatory mechanisms such as scholarships or selection effects; however, this interpretation is inferential and not directly tested in the study.

Implications for Mentoring Programs

Due to SES’s strongest influence in early education and mathematics, mentoring initiatives may have the greatest impact implementing these domains early on and with structured academic support. Programs serving low-SES students can also prioritize strengthening access to resources, academic guidance (e.g. tutoring), and institutional navigation. Given the persistent SES gradient, mentoring should be positioned not as remediation alone, but as structural support addressing opportunity gaps.

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