What Types of Youth Drop Out of School?

There is no single profile for the child or adolescent who starts skipping school or finally drops out. However, there are numerous risk factors that make staying in school more difficult. Low socioeconomic status (poor family education, low family income), single-parent household, and an early history of behavior problems (child exhibits conduct problems before age 10) are risk factors that are common to a host of ongoing developmental problems. These risk factors aren’t specific to truancy and dropping out, but they put the child at risk for ongoing stress and behavioral problems that lead to truancy. With ongoing problems such as poverty and family instability, school can seem like just another burden when one’s life is already chaotic and stressful.

Youth who are truant are also often more impulsive and emotionally reactive. All children react emotionally first and often appear impulsive. Indeed, the region of our brain that helps us act more rationally and think about our actions is the last to mature. In fact, it’s not until our mid-20’s that our brains are fully developed, although it is around age 16 that adolescents begin to approximate adult abilities to inhibit behavior. But our brains develop throughout childhood, and we learn to modulate our emotions and decrease impulsivity through the guidance of parents, teachers, and others in our lives. Without this guidance, a child’s emotions will rule their behavior. This is why consistent rules and support is vital to a child, but this consistency is often missing in the life of the truant child.

Many of these youth have little parental guidance and support. Indeed, many times the parents were dropouts themselves and provide few expectations for the child to complete school. In addition, many of these parents lack the skills to help their troubled children, so even though they want their child to be in school, they don’t know what to do. Some parents give up; others become angry and aggressive. Neither approach helps the child. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that many truant youth have few problem-solving skills since they have primarily learned to give up or act out. Many truant youth think that if they are having problems in school, then leaving school is the only reasonable choice. The idea of solving a problem in another way doesn’t even occur to them.

In addition, many truant youth suffer from psychological, learning, and/or physical disabilities. For example, a child with ADHD and a learning disability is much more likely to drop out of school than a child without these disabilities. If you are getting in trouble every day and find it difficult to understand what you are reading, then school feels like torture. After someone feels like a failure over and over, there becomes little incentive to keep trying. Dropping out of school alleviates the immediate pain of feeling like a failure every day.

Students who feel marginalized are also at greater risk of dropping out. This may include students who are socially isolated and have no friends. It may also include youth who have friends who are not in school. These friends may be older youth, other dropouts, or adults who are no longer in school. When a child’s primary social supports are other dropouts, then it is more likely they will drop out. In addition, gay, lesbian, and transgendered youth are at greater risk to become dropouts because they feel marginalized or ostracized.

Although truant youth may become resentful and fight authority, most truants and dropouts want structure and predictability. Having a caring, trustworthy person in their life is missing, and providing that structure and support helps them get their footing on the path to success.