Patterns of Multisystem Service Use and School Dropout Among Seventh-, Eighth-, and Ninth-Grade Students

Antonio R. Garcia, Stephen Metraux, Chin Chih Chen, Jung Min Park, Dennis P. Culhane, Frank F. Furstenberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Youth who receive services from public mental health, child welfare and delinquency, and homeless systems are often exposed to a number of overlapping child, family, school, and community risk factors. Minimal research, however, has focused on the extent to which single- or multiple-system involvement influences school dropout. Relying on an integrated data set, the associations between single- and multiple-system utilization and risk for dropping out, or actually dropping out of school, among youth in Grades 7 through 9 were examined. Results showed dropout rates more than doubled among public youth system users compared with those in the overall sample. With a few exceptions, use of combinations of services systems translated into somewhat higher likelihoods of dropping out of school when compared with single-system use. Future research is warranted to identify the underlying processes by which single- and multiple-system involvement influences school dropout rates.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1041-1073
Number of pages33
JournalJournal of Early Adolescence
Volume38
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2017.

Keywords

  • academic achievement
  • at-risk/high-risk populations
  • deviance/delinquency/truancy
  • education
  • inner city/urban
  • mental health

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

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