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Published on: February 25, 2011
High school dropouts: interactions between social context, self-perceptions, school engagement, and student dropout
Anna-Mária Fall1, Greg Roberts
1The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, The University of Texas at Austin, USA. amfall@austin.utexas.edu
Journal of Adolescence
|December 14, 2011
Summary
Understanding why students drop out of high school is crucial. Social context and self-perceptions influence school engagement, which in turn reduces the likelihood of dropping out.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Sociology of Education
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Student dropout is influenced by contextual, self-system, and school engagement factors.
- The interplay between these variables in high school dropout decisions requires further investigation.
- The self-system model offers a framework for understanding these complex relationships.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine how contextual and self-system variables interact to influence student engagement and dropout decisions.
- To test the applicability of the self-system model of motivational development in predicting high school dropout.
- To analyze the longitudinal relationships between social context, self-perceptions, engagement, achievement, and dropout.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002-2004.
- Employed the self-system model to analyze the pathways from social context to dropout.
- Examined 10th-grade variables (social context, self-perceptions, engagement, achievement) predicting 12th-grade dropout likelihood.
Main Results:
- Perception of social context (teacher and parent support) positively predicted self-perceptions (control and identification with school).
- Self-perceptions subsequently predicted academic and behavioral engagement, and academic achievement.
- Higher academic and behavioral engagement and achievement in 10th grade were linked to a lower probability of dropping out by 12th grade.
Conclusions:
- The self-system model effectively explains the process leading to high school dropout.
- Supportive social contexts foster positive self-perceptions, which are key to student engagement.
- Promoting engagement and achievement is vital for dropout prevention strategies.
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