Academic Resilience Among Low ESCS Students in Italy | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Academic Resilience Among Low ESCS Students in Italy Alessandra Pisu, Isabella Sulis, Mariano Porcu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492260/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In Italy, academic achievement and university enrolment are significantly influenced by family socioeconomic status. Despite these challenges, a group of students from low ESCS backgrounds demonstrates academic resilience, achieving high performance and continuing their education. This study examines the factors that contribute to such resilience, focusing on the influences of region and school type through a multinomial modelling approach that considers both high school performance and university enrolment decisions. The results indicate that school effectiveness is the strongest predictor of academic resilience, particularly in relation to the transition to post-secondary education. This finding emphasises the vital role that institutional quality plays in compensating for socioeconomic disadvantages. Additionally, the main findings highlight the ongoing impact of social origin on disadvantaged high achievers and reveal a structured pattern of talent loss among them. academic resilience socioeconomic status educational inequality high achievement university enrolment Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8492260","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":571073192,"identity":"14d6b95c-f089-4dd0-a64b-7cbf37865265","order_by":0,"name":"Alessandra Pisu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABBElEQVRIie3Pv0vDQBTA8RcC1yX11pPS9l9ICRTBf+YOwUzuDlIuBJLN+QT/iG6uyoO6+AcE7HBBcDYIckMRX3XwB1zsKHjfIXnDfbh3AKHQX2zw8Yv09isBJtv5SYLwk/gHyWguDBG/+UYoRUNkaPASXsbYubP1+Kq+ZtZuMF/el4W2cLDwEYHseJSsHrPLOzlIVYUny/VNoXsXw2QeA0NlQDKhNJFG1baPTJE/d+6VCLdMSFosbVT/LSkmIIYVEUG3SIbyVzJDNh8NzzEzoq3pLfns4p2kYl97yOS2fOjcC44NP1q1bnM43WvytnCnC+59/mdR9XXhHQDFdjsWCoVC/64302hcQtvYPwgAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cagliari","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alessandra","middleName":"","lastName":"Pisu","suffix":""},{"id":571073199,"identity":"03bb1e2c-eeca-4ed4-b8e9-af5d0cb95a4b","order_by":1,"name":"Isabella Sulis","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cagliari","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Isabella","middleName":"","lastName":"Sulis","suffix":""},{"id":571073200,"identity":"5264a381-769f-4d91-b85e-528c54de293a","order_by":2,"name":"Mariano Porcu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cagliari","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mariano","middleName":"","lastName":"Porcu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-31 21:23:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492260/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492260/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":99875819,"identity":"3df4527b-d33e-49db-a4b5-77729bcfea08","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-09 10:12:10","extension":"json","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4770,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"c0493fef3ca3407ba16fe36fd34f411f.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8492260/v1/9ec5700afe49ce4b7c8afe46.json"},{"id":99875822,"identity":"4462c16c-8041-4d21-802b-53846facefe2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-09 10:12:10","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":359337,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ArticoloFinale3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8492260/v1/2f4f47aa3def6c4150154187.pdf"},{"id":99875820,"identity":"bd4d9a2a-7f8f-4db7-b5cb-7cef4d328166","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-09 10:12:10","extension":"pdf","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":68264,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Coverletter.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8492260/v1/49ca9098d28763518041cf4e.pdf"},{"id":99875821,"identity":"503767b1-765c-4857-9047-978a7425f2ee","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-09 10:12:10","extension":"xml","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":116612,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"c0493fef3ca3407ba16fe36fd34f411f1structuring.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8492260/v1/efd5bbce2f1db1bc4badbea1.xml"},{"id":99875833,"identity":"61002633-28b0-411f-9b76-88870d4d2f2c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-09 10:12:15","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":295040,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ArticoloFinale3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8492260/v1_covered_cbc0dbd0-c889-4a88-9d2a-f3394eff3452.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Academic Resilience Among Low ESCS Students in Italy","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"
[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"academic resilience, socioeconomic status, educational inequality, high achievement, university enrolment","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492260/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492260/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn Italy, academic achievement and university enrolment are significantly influenced by family socioeconomic status. Despite these challenges, a group of students from low ESCS backgrounds demonstrates academic resilience, achieving high performance and continuing their education. This study examines the factors that contribute to such resilience, focusing on the influences of region and school type through a multinomial modelling approach that considers both high school performance and university enrolment decisions. The results indicate that school effectiveness is the strongest predictor of academic resilience, particularly in relation to the transition to post-secondary education. This finding emphasises the vital role that institutional quality plays in compensating for socioeconomic disadvantages. Additionally, the main findings highlight the ongoing impact of social origin on disadvantaged high achievers and reveal a structured pattern of talent loss among them.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Academic Resilience Among Low ESCS Students in Italy","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-09 10:12:06","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492260/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"
[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"fd2729a8-d24d-44d4-8947-4fd72625271c","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 9th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-15T16:23:28+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-09 10:12:06","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8492260","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8492260","identity":"rs-8492260","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}
Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below.
Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure
cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can
have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy
(via DOI)
is the canonical version.