New study shows that interventions can improve odds for high school dropouts

A new study has found that certain factors during adolescence can exacerbate the effects of dropping out of high school.

The study—led by Jennifer Lansford, a research professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy and a faculty fellow at Duke’s Center for Child and Family Policy—showed that childhood experiences can increase the risk of leaving high school early and experiencing hardships later in life, such as incarceration and joblessness. Yet, the researchers found that the consequences of dropping out of high school can be mitigated through treatment and interventions.

“We looked at a number of factors during childhood and adolescence that could potentially alter trajectories for dropouts,” Lansford said. “Despite the overall risk for people who dropped out of high school, we did find some childhood and adolescent factors that were either more protective or risky for high school dropouts.”

The study—which was published in the June edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health—followed 585 children from kindergarten to the age of 27. The participants were of different socioeconomic statuses and from Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn. or Bloomington, Ind.

The researchers concluded that compared to high school graduates, individuals who dropped out of high school were nearly three times more likely to have been arrested by age 18. By age 27, the participants used drugs and were fired from a job twice as often. They were also four times more likely to need government aid.

Lansford said that when she began the study, she sought to identify groups of high school dropouts who were doing well despite the consequences associated with dropping out. But her results demonstrated that few participants avoided negative outcomes.

Among the factors that increased dropouts’ risks of encountering hardships were being rejected by elementary school peers, living in low socioeconomic status households during adolescence and teenage pregnancy.

Conversely, positive relationships with parents and high-quality friendships reduced the likelihood that individuals experienced negative outcomes after they dropped out of high school. Mental health treatment and support services also improved the life trajectories of dropouts. 

“Some dropouts do better than others,” said Kenneth Dodge, who helped conduct the study and is the director of the Center for Child and Family Policy and William McDougall Professor of Public Policy Studies. “The ones that do better are those who have sought counseling or therapy for problems that may be associated with the dropout, whether it's drug-use, anxiety or depression.”  

Dodge and Lansford said that the findings of the study stress the importance of deterrence programs that help combat the forces that cause students to leave high school early. Dropout prevention strategies could include mentoring and working with young children with behavioral or academic problems. 

Dodge noted that another study performed by Phillip Cook, ITT/Terry Sanford Professor of Public Policy Studies, found that eventual dropouts can be predicted from chronic elementary school truancy.

“Earlier intervention is generally more effective than later intervention because some problems that eventually lead to dropout tend to start at a pretty young age,” Lansford said. “Often times, people who end up dropping out of high school start school at a disadvantage…and those early academic problems snowball overtime.”

Dodge said that the next stage of his research might be to conduct a study to learn more about the types of programs and treatments that are most effective in ensuring that dropouts suffer fewer problems later in life.  

“I could imagine us taking a group of high school dropouts and randomly assigning half of them to receive a particular kind of intervention that we developed to see in an experimental fashion whether that approach would be effective,” Dodge said.

Lansford noted that her study’s results are not applicable to college dropouts.

The factors that motivate individuals to leave college and high school early differ, she said. The subsequent outcomes of dropping out of high school are also more severe than the consequences of leaving college early.

However, Lansford said that the childhood factors that improve the life trajectories of high school dropouts could also apply to individuals who graduated high school. As such, college dropouts who have stronger relationships with parents and peers during their adolescence likely experience fewer hardships, she noted.