The Process of Dropping Out of High School: A 19-Year Perspective

Abstract

In this study, nested latent-variable causal models were contrasted to compare the direct and indirect relationships of distal family and child and proximal adolescent factors to dropping out of high school. The sample included 194 Euro-American conventional and nonconventional families in a 19-year longitudinal study. The findings showed that dropping out of high school is a multiply-determined process, with early influences beginning in childhood, that involves family as well as child and adolescent factors. Early family nonconventionality with higher commitment to lifestyle values was associated with a lower probability of dropping out; cumulative family stress, lower high school achievement and motivation, lower sixth-grade school performance, and adolescent drug use were associated with a higher probability of dropping out. Family lifestyles and values are related to children’s developmental pathways through childhood exposure to drug use, child ability prior to school entry, and early school performance. Nonconventional lifestyles with a higher commitment to lifestyle values may offer long-term protection for children from school failure.