| Sophia Catsambis
Queens College, CUNY
Vital connections for students at-risk: Family, neighborhood and school influences on school engagement and dropping out
FINAL REPORT:
A recent addition of students' residential locations to the NELS data allows us to nationally assess the extent to which the different spheres of adolescents' lives affect their chances of dropping out of school by the tenth grade. In this paper, we report preliminary findings indicating that factors at all major spheres of life -- family neighborhood and school -- affect students' chances of dropping out early. Multi-level analyses that controlled for students' likelihood of living in neighborhoods with high concentrations of dropouts show that the social context of neighborhoods is associated with dropping out of school by the tenth grade. Early dropouts are highly concentrated in neighborhoods with high proportions of African American residents, and high levels of high school dropouts. At the school level, clustering of dropouts is small but schools with high levels of absenteeism contribute to dropping out. High parental aspirations and positive educational family practices are associated with lower chances of dropping out of school early. The positive effects of such family practices exist, irrespective of school or neighborhood context.
Back to Funded Research Grants Page |