SCHOOL DROPOUT, DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR, AND DRUG USE: AN EXAMINATION OF THE CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF DROPPING OUT OF SCHOOL

• NCJ Number: 145088
• Author(s): M D Krohn; T P Thornberry; L Collins-Hall; A J Lizotte
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 40 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Forthcoming in Howard Kaplan (ed.) Longitudinal Studies of Drugs, Crime, and Other Deviant Adaptations, New York: Plenum.

Annotation

Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, this research employed a sample of 987 high-risk adolescents and their families to evaluate the strain, social control, and problem behavior arguments concerning the relationship between dropping out of school, drug use, and juvenile delinquency.

Abstract

The results of this study indicate that earlier drug use is significantly related to dropping out of school, even when controlling for several family- and school-related variables. Drug use combined with dissatisfaction and lack of success in school best predicted dropping out for these adolescents. However, serious delinquency was not correlated with dropping out of school in this study. Furthermore, the study did not find support for the strain theory hypothesis, as dropping out of school tended to exacerbate, rather than reduce, the incidence of drug use and delinquency among this sample. It seems that dropping out of school, drug use, and delinquency might form a constellation of problematic behaviors that stem from an adolescent's dissatisfaction with school. 5 tables and 29 references