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Risk Factors for Dropping out of High School: A Review of Contemporary, International Empirical Research

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Abstract

School dropout is still a relevant problem in the US, Canada, and European countries. The factors that determine, or contribute to, this phenomenon are still not clear and, especially in recent years, have been extensively investigated in the US, using large databases. This article presents a review of international literature from an inter-disciplinary perspective, takes a developmental systems theory as a theoretical framework and examines personal, social and contextual risk factors for dropout. Results show that several determinants are associated with dropout, such as truancy, lack of motivation, health, bullying, and living in economically depressed areas. However, at the current state of the art, little is known about how these variables interact and their specific roles in different environments.

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Fig. 1

(adapted from Ford and Lerner 1992)

Fig. 2

(adapted from Moher et al. 2009)

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Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Frances Anderson, Dario Varin and two anonymous reviewers for the useful suggestions and discussions in this article.

Author contributions

Enrico Ripamonti is associated with the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, IRCCS, Milan. His research interests are in causal models in Statistics, economics of education and the relation of health and education.

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  1. Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico [IRCCS], Milan, Italy

    Enrico Ripamonti

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Ripamonti, E. Risk Factors for Dropping out of High School: A Review of Contemporary, International Empirical Research. Adolescent Res Rev 3, 321–338 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-017-0075-y

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