Parental unemployment and educational outcomes in late adolescence: the importance of family cohesion, parental education, and family income in a Norwegian study.

AIMS: The study aimed to investigate the association between parental unemployment and grade point average and school completion in adolescence, and the importance of family cohesion, parental education, and family income in explaining these associations. METHODS: Data stem from the Norwegian cross-sectional 2012 youth@hordaland-survey including 8437 adolescents (53.4% girls). Information on grade point average, school completion, parental education, and family income were retrieved from the National Education Database. Parental work status and family cohesion were assessed by adolescent self-report. RESULTS: Adolescents with at least one unemployed parent had lower grade point averages (3.49 compared with 3.92, P<0.001) and rates of school completion (71.9% compared with 86.6%, P<0.001) compared with adolescents with two working parents. The associations between parental unemployment and both grade point average (b = -0.22, 95% confidence interval -0.32, -0.12) and school completion (odds ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.46, 0.76) partly attenuated but remained significant when taking family cohesion, parental education, and family income into account. There was a significant interaction between parental unemployment and family cohesion on grade point average, in which the positive association between family cohesion and grade point average was weaker for adolescents with unemployed parents. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with parents outside of the workforce are at higher risk of poorer educational outcomes than peers with working parents. Combined with the positive associations between parental education, family cohesion, family income, and educational outcomes, this underscores the importance of parents for adolescent educational outcomes, and suggests that parents and the family situation should be considered when providing academic support for adolescents who struggle in upper secondary school.

Parental separation and school dropout in adolescence.

AIMS: To document the association between parental separation and school dropout in adolescence and to examine the factors that may potentially account for this association. METHODS: Data stem from the large youth@hordaland study that was linked to the Norwegian National Educational Database to obtain objective measures of educational outcomes and disposable income (N = 8323). Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between parental separation and school dropout. A Fairlie post-regression decomposition was used to examine the influence of parental education, household income, health complaints, family cohesion, and peer problems in explaining the association between parental separation and school dropout. RESULTS: Parental separation was associated with a higher odds ratio (OR) of school dropout in crude and adjusted (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)) analyses (OR=2.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) =1.90-2.45; AOR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.50-2.00). About 31% of the higher odds of school dropout among adolescents with separated parents was explained by the covariates. The decomposition analysis suggested that parental education (43%) and disposable income (20%) accounted for most of the explained differences in school dropout. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with separated parents are at higher risk for not completing secondary education. Parental education and disposable income accounted for most of the explained differences in school dropout between the groups. Still, the majority of the difference in school dropout remained unaccounted for, indicating that the link between parental separation and school dropout is complex and likely influenced by multiple factors.

Modeling Adolescent Social Inclusion to Improve School Completion.

Enhancing social inclusion in young people could increase engagement in education, yet few longitudinal studies have examined this relationship. This study aimed to identify whether social inclusion in an Australian adolescent sample predicted high school completion three years later. Using state-representative data from the International Youth Development Study, two waves of the youngest cohort (51.6% female and 94.6% Australian born) during mid-adolescence (n = 825, Mage = 15.99, SD = 0.39) and post-secondary school (n = 809, Mage = 19.03, SD = 0.44) were analyzed. Factor analysis identified a 4-factor structure that represented an overarching social inclusion construct: (1) Citizenship, (2) Connectedness to Community, (3) Connectedness to Family, and (4) Connectedness to and Participation in School. Multivariate regression analyses indicated higher social inclusion levels in mid-adolescence predicted an increased likelihood of high school completion three years later. The implementation of strategies that incorporate the enhancement of social inclusion may improve educational outcomes for young people.

The impact of childhood asthma on academic performance: A matched population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There is inconclusive evidence of the effect of asthma on the academic performance of young people. This study aims to compare scholastic performance and high school completion of young people hospitalized with asthma compared to matched peers not hospitalized with asthma. METHOD: A population-based matched case-comparison cohort study of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalized for asthma during 2005-2018 in New South Wales, Australia using linked birth, health, education and mortality records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, gender and residential postcode. Generalized linear mixed-modelling examined risk of school performance below the national minimum standard (NMS) and generalized linear regression examined risk of not completing high school for young people hospitalized with asthma compared to matched peers. RESULTS: Young males hospitalized with asthma had a 13% and 15% higher risk of not achieving the NMS for numeracy (95%CI 1.04-1.22) and reading (95%CI 1.07-1.23), respectively, compared to peers. Young males hospitalized with asthma had a 51% (95%CI 1.22-1.86) higher risk of not completing year 10, and around a 20% higher risk of not completing year 11 (ARR: 1.25; 95%CI 1.15-1.36) or year 12 (ARR: 1.27; 95%CI 1.17-1.39) compared to peers. Young females hospitalized with asthma showed no difference in achieving numeracy or reading NMSs, but did have a 21% higher risk of not completing year 11 (95%CI 1.09-1.36) and a 33% higher risk of not completing year 12 (95%CI 1.19-1.49) compared to peers. CONCLUSIONS: Educational attainment is worse for young people hospitalized with asthma compared to matched peers. Early intervention and strategies for better management of asthma symptoms may enhance academic performance for students.

The impact of type 1 diabetes mellitus in childhood on academic performance: A matched population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The impact of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) on academic performance is inconclusive. This study aims to compare scholastic performance and high-school completion in young people hospitalized with T1D compared to matched peers not hospitalized with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN: Retrospective case-comparison cohort study. METHOD: A population-level matched case-comparison study of people aged ≤18 hospitalized with T1D during 2005-2018 in New South Wales, Australia using linked health-related and education records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, gender, and residential postcode. Generalized linear mixed modeling examined risk of school performance below the national minimum standard (NMS) and generalized linear regression examined risk of not completing high school for young people hospitalized with T1D compared to peers. Adjusted relative risks (ARR) were calculated. RESULTS: Young females and males hospitalized with T1D did not have a higher risk of not achieving the NMS compared to peers for numeracy (ARR: 1.19; 95%CI 0.77-1.84 and ARR: 0.74; 95%CI 0.46-1.19) or reading (ARR: 0.98; 95%CI 0.63-1.50 and ARR: 0.85; 95%CI 0.58-1.24), respectively. Young T1D hospitalized females had a higher risk of not completing year 11 (ARR: 1.73; 95%CI 1.19-2.53) or 12 (ARR: 1.65; 95%CI 1.17-2.33) compared to peers, while hospitalized T1D males did not. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in academic performance in youth hospitalized with T1D compared to peers. Improved glucose control and T1D management may explain the absence of school performance decrements in students with T1D. However, females hospitalized with T1D had a higher risk of not completing high school. Potential associations of this increased risk, with attention to T1D and psycho-social management, should be investigated.

Mental disorders and their impact on school performance and high school completion by gender in Australia: A matched population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Young people with a mental disorder often perform poorly at school and can fail to complete high school. This study aims to compare scholastic performance and high school completion of young people hospitalised with a mental disorder compared to young people not hospitalised for a mental disorder health condition by gender. METHOD: A population-based matched case-comparison cohort study of young people aged ⩽18 years hospitalised for a mental disorder during 2005-2018 in New South Wales, Australia using linked birth, health, education and mortality records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, gender and residential postcode. Generalised linear mixed modelling examined risk of school performance below the national minimum standard and generalised linear regression examined risk of not completing high school for young people with a mental disorder compared to matched peers. RESULTS: Young males with a mental disorder had over a 1.7 times higher risk of not achieving the national minimum standard for numeracy (adjusted relative risk: 1.71; 95% confidence interval: [1.35, 2.15]) and reading (adjusted relative risk: 1.99; 95% confidence interval: [1.80, 2.20]) compared to matched peers. Young females with a mental disorder had around 1.5 times higher risk of not achieving the national minimum standard for numeracy (adjusted relative risk: 1.50; 95% confidence interval: [1.14, 1.96]) compared to matched peers. Both young males and females with a disorder had around a three times higher risk of not completing high school compared to peers. Young males with multiple disorders had up to a sixfold increased risk and young females with multiple disorders had up to an eightfold increased risk of not completing high school compared to peers. CONCLUSION: Early recognition and support could improve school performance and educational outcomes for young people who were hospitalised with a mental disorder. This support should be provided in conjunction with access to mental health services and school involvement and assistance.

The impact of childhood injury and injury severity on school performance and high school completion in Australia: a matched population-based retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Exploring the impact of injury and injury severity on academic outcomes could assist to identify characteristics of young people likely to require learning support services. This study aims to compare scholastic performance and high school completion of young people hospitalised for an injury compared to young people not hospitalised for an injury by injury severity; and to examine factors influencing scholastic performance and school completion. METHOD: A population-based matched case-comparison cohort study of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalised for an injury during 2005-2018 in New South Wales, Australia using linked birth, health, education and mortality records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, gender and residential postcode. Generalised linear mixed modelling examined risk of performance below the national minimum standard (NMS) on the National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and generalised linear regression examined risk of not completing high school for injured young people compared to matched peers. RESULTS: Injured young people had a higher risk of not achieving the NMS compared to their matched peers for numeracy (ARR: 1.12; 95%CI 1.06-1.17), reading (ARR: 1.09; 95%CI 1.04-1.13), spelling (ARR: 1.13; 95%CI 1.09-1.18), grammar (ARR: 1.11; 95%CI 1.06-1.15), and writing (ARR: 1.07; 95%CI 1.04-1.11). As injury severity increased from minor to serious, the risk of not achieving the NMS generally increased for injured young people compared to matched peers. Injured young people had almost twice the risk of not completing high school at year 10 (ARR: 2.17; 95%CI 1.73-2.72), year 11 (ARR: 1.95; 95%CI 1.78-2.14) or year 12 (ARR: 1.93; 95%CI 1.78-2.08) compared to matched peers. CONCLUSIONS: The identification of characteristics of young people most likely to encounter problems in the academic environment after sustaining an injury is important to facilitate the potential need for learning support. Assessing learning needs and monitoring return-to-school progress post-injury may aid identification of any ongoing learning support requirements.

Factors that support high school completion: A longitudinal examination of quality teacher-student relationships and intentions to graduate.

INTRODUCTION: Stage-environment fit theory (SEF) posits that students leave school when their environments do not meet their needs. Quality teacher-student relationships (QTSRs) are a critical element of students' environments. Moreover, QTSRs help students internalize positive intentions to graduate. QTSRs and intentions to graduate have both been identified as separate determinants of high school completion. These factors may also form a longitudinal socio-motivational process that supports graduation. However, few studies have examined such processes. METHODS: This investigation examined data from N = 4691 Australian secondary students (43% female) included in the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth (LSAY) 2009 cohort. Participants were in grade 10 at Time 1 (Mage = 15.74; SD = 0.28), with a total of four annual time points examined. Longitudinal probit regression was used to examine the extent to which grade 10 QTSRs predicted students' intentions to graduate (in grades 10 and 11), and QTSRs and intentions to graduate predicted high school completion. Multi-class analysis and indirect effects testing were also conducted. RESULTS: Grade 10 QTSRs are positively associated with grade 10 intentions to graduate and grade 11 intentions to graduate (beyond the effects of grade 10 intentions to graduate). QTSRs and intentions to graduate were also positively associated with increased chances of high school completion. QTSRs were found to play a stronger role for low-achieving students over time. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, QTSRs and intentions to graduate appear to be significantly associated with intentions to graduate and high school completion, especially for low-achieving students. Intervention implications are signalled.

Effect of Early Grade Retention on School Completion: A Prospective Study.

This 14 year prospective study investigated the effect of retention in grades 1-5 on high school completion (diploma, GED, or drop out). Participants were 734 (52.7% males) ethnically diverse, academically at-risk students recruited from Texas schools into the study when they were in first grade (mean age = 6.57). Propensity score weighting successfully equated the 256 retained students and the 478 students continuously promoted students on 65 covariates assessed in grade 1. At the end of 14 years, 477 had earned a diploma, 21 had obtained a GED, 110 had dropped out, and 126 were missing school completion status. Using multinomial logistic regression with high school graduation as the reference outcome, retention led to a significant increase in the likelihood of dropping out of high school (odds ratio = 2.61), above students' propensity to be retained and additional covariates. The contrast between graduation and GED outcomes was not significant. A significant Retention X Ethnicity X Gender interaction was obtained: The negative effect of retention was strongest for African American and Hispanic girls. Even though grade retention in the elementary grades does not harm students in terms of their academic achievement or educational motivation at the transition to high school, retention increases the odds that a student will drop out of school before obtaining a high school diploma.

Socioeconomic background and high school completion: Mediation by health and moderation by national context.

This study uses longitudinal data from the Norwegian Health Study linked with registry data (n = 13262) and the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (n = 3604) to examine (1) whether adolescent health mediates the well-established relationship between socioeconomic background and successful high school completion, and (2) whether this mediated pathway of influence varies by national context. Adolescents from lower educated and lower income families reported poorer health, which negatively impacted their likelihood of graduating from high school. The partial mediational effect of adolescent health was stronger in the U.S. than in Norway. These results suggest that policies aimed at preventing high school dropout need to address adolescent health, in addition to the unequal opportunities derived from socioeconomic disadvantage.

Risk of impaired school performance in children hospitalized with concussion: a population-based matched cohort study.

Aim: To examine the impact of concussion on objective measures of school performance. Materials & methods: Population-based matched cohort study using linked health and education records of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalized with concussion in New South Wales, Australia, during 2005-2018, and matched comparisons not hospitalized with any injury. Results: Young people with concussion had higher risk of not achieving the national minimum standards for literacy and numeracy assessments, ranging from 30% for numeracy to 43% for spelling, and not completing high school, ranging from 29% for year 10 to 77% for year 12, compared with matched peers. Conclusion: Young people hospitalized with concussion have impaired school performance compared with uninjured matched peers.

The impact of childhood epilepsy on academic performance: A population-based matched cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: To compare academic performance and high school completion of young people admitted to hospital with epilepsy and matched peers from the general population not admitted to hospital with epilepsy during the study period. METHODS: A population-based matched case-comparison cohort study of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalised with epilepsy during 2005-2018 in New South Wales, Australia, using linked birth, health, education, and mortality records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, sex, and residential postcode. Generalised linear mixed modelling examined risk of school performance below the national minimum standard (NMS), and generalised linear regression examined risk of not completing high school for young people hospitalised with epilepsy compared to matched peers not hospitalised with epilepsy during the study period. Adjusted relative risks (ARRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were derived from the final models. RESULTS: Young people hospitalised with epilepsy had more than 3 times higher risk of not achieving the NMS for numeracy (ARR: 3.40; 95%CI 2.76‒4.18) and reading (ARR: 3.15; 95%CI 2.60‒3.82), compared to matched peers. Young people hospitalised with epilepsy had a 78% higher risk of not completing year 10 (ARR: 1.78; 95%CI 1.14‒2.79), 18% higher risk of not completing year 11 (ARR: 1.18; 95%CI 0.97‒1.45), and 38% higher risk of not completing year 12 (ARR: 1.38; 95%CI 1.14‒1.67), compared to matched counterparts. CONCLUSION: Young people hospitalised with epilepsy have higher risk of not achieving minimum standards for numeracy and reading and not completing high school compared to matched peers. There is a need for effective strategies and interventions (e.g., early seizure control and improved multidisciplinary management and care coordination) to minimise the potential adverse effect of epilepsy on education and its sequelae such as early school leaving, unemployment and poverty in adulthood.

A future time perspective of secondary school students' academic engagement and disengagement: A longitudinal investigation.

Students' conceptions of their academic futures, such as completing secondary school, have been found to play a significant role in their current behavior. Indeed, research regarding future time perspectives (FTP) indicates that students with extended FTPs are likely to be more engaged and less disengaged over time. Extended FTPs comprise two critical motivating elements: the cognitive (i.e., importance value) and the dynamic (i.e., school completion aspirations). Although these elements are hypothetically reciprocally related and without temporal limitation to their motivational effects, these claims have largely gone untested. These claims were examined via longitudinal structural equation modelling with cross-lagged panel analysis and invariance testing in a sample of 1327 Australian secondary school students. Findings indicated that importance value is directionally salient over school completion aspirations (such that it may precede school completion aspirations), both are associated with higher engagement and lower disengagement over time, and evidence of temporal limitations on the motivational benefits of the elements of extended FTPs was not found. School-based interventions that focus on improving importance value and school completion aspirations are discussed.

Adolescents With Chronic Medical Conditions and High School Completion: The Importance of Perceived School Belonging.

Students with chronic medical conditions often experience barriers to academic progress, including impact of disease and treatment, increased school absence, and altered expectations of teachers and parents. School belonging is an important element of academic success and can be promoted by positive relationships, structure, and support in the school environment. One aim of this study was to explore group differences in perceived school belonging and rate of on-time high school completion for students with chronic medical conditions as compared to their healthy peers. The second goal was to analyze relations between belonging, health status, and on-time completion of high school. Restricted data from Add Health was used to answer the study questions. Results showed that students with chronic medical conditions reported lower levels of perceived school belonging than their healthy peers (t(1056) = 3.69, p < .001, d = 0.23). Students with chronic medical conditions also attained lower levels of on-time high school graduation than their healthy peers (t(1056) = 2.60, p = .005, d = 0.16). Perceived school belonging had a different impact for students with chronic medical conditions than for those who had no health concerns. Each unit increase in belonging for students with health impairment was related to a 63% increased likelihood of on-time high school graduation (OR = 1.629, p = .003). School belonging is especially important for students living with chronic medical conditions. Finding ways to facilitate a stronger sense of school belonging may be a way to support desired academic outcomes.

Use of outpatient mental healthcare services and upper-secondary school completion in young women with migrant background - A population-based study.

Mental disorders typically develop during adolescence, with young women being particularly at risk. Mental disorders during this period can negatively affect both current and future life prospects such as school completion. Migrants are at increased risk of developing mental disorders as a result of their experiences prior to, during and after migration. Additionally, they are less likely to complete upper-secondary school when compared to the majority population. Thus, being a young migrant woman with a mental disorder may have adverse consequences for school completion, which in turn can affect socioeconomic status later in life. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between mental disorders, defined as having used outpatient mental healthcare services (OPMH), and completion of upper-secondary school among young women living in Norway, using national registry data. Additionally, we examined differences in probability of school completion between Norwegian majority, migrants and migrant descendants between those who used and did not use OPMH. The sample consisted of women born between 1990 and 1993 (N = 122,777). We conducted hierarchical, multivariable logistic regression analysis. In unadjusted analysis, we found that young women who used OPMH services had lower odds of school completion than those who did not, even after adjustment for migrant background and parental education. However, by calculating predictive margins, we found that descendant women, who had used OPMH services, had significantly higher probability of completing upper-secondary education than Norwegian majority women who had used services. None of the four migrant groups differed significantly from majority women. Use of OPMH services, had most adverse effect on majority, migrants from Nordic and Western countries and descendants, when compared to non-users. Future interventions should aim to increase school completion among young women with mental disorders.

Residential Mobility, Family Structure, and Completion of Upper Secondary Education - A Registry-Based Cohort Study of the Norwegian Adolescent Population.

BACKGROUND: Longitudinal studies exploring the complex interplay between family structures and residential mobility on educational achievement and failure are lacking. We investigate the interplay between the number of residential moves during late childhood, parental education level, family living situation, and the probability of completing upper secondary education. METHODOLOGY: Detailed longitudinal data for a random sample of 30% of the entire Norwegian population born 1982 to 1989 (N = 121,247) and information on all their relocations between Norwegian enumeration districts from ages 10 to 18 years were extracted from the Norwegian population registries. Family structures were grouped into four intersectional family strata defined by combining categories of parental education level (distinguishing poorly educated and well-educated families) and the family's living situation (comparing non-intact families with intact families). We applied two-level logistic regression models, which incorporated individual and family contextual factors, to estimate possible differences in completion rates of upper secondary education. RESULTS: Non-completion of secondary education (which constitutes 29% of the study sample) increases incrementally with the number of residential changes across all four family structures, but this effect was not distributed evenly between the different family strata. Individuals in "well-educated, intact families" seem to be least affected by residential moves. On the other hand, the highest disadvantage of frequent moves was among adolescents in the stratum "poorly educated, intact families." In poorly educated families the probabilities of completing secondary school among non-intact and intact families converge toward each other as the number of moves increase. About 43% of the variation in school completion may be attributed to differences between families. The highest risk of school non-completion was found among adolescents in poorly educated families, which accounted for 74% of the non-completers. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated underlying links between residential mobility and family structures on non-completion of upper secondary education. The adverse effect of frequent moves calls for attention in schools, public health agencies, and housing policies. The findings should be considered in a life course perspective, as the accumulation of unfavorable conditions during childhood and adolescence tends to constrict future prospects in terms of health and quality of life.

Educational attainment for youth who were maltreated in adolescence: Investigating the influence of maltreatment type and foster care placement.

Decades of research have consistently shown a link between foster care and low rates of high school completion. Despite the overwhelming knowledge surrounding this association, it remains unclear whether the low rates of high school completion are due to placement in foster care or the maltreatment and other contextual factors that foster care youth have experienced. This study examined the extent to which (a) maltreatment type and (b) foster care placement were associated with the educational attainment of 337 maltreated adolescents. Logistic regression analyses were conducted using two waves of data and the ACR dataset of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). After controlling for academic risk factors related to the adolescents (age, race, and gender), their family (household poverty and parental education), and their environment (community environment), neither maltreatment type nor foster care placement status were associated with subsequent high school completion. Overall, only 58% of the maltreated adolescents reported completing their education. That is about 15% less than the national average at the time data were collected for this study. Results, overall, suggest a need for educational supports and interventions for youth who experience maltreatment during their adolescent years, regardless of maltreatment type and foster care placement.

The Longitudinal Effects of Adolescent Volunteering on Secondary School Completion and Adult Volunteering.

This study explores the longitudinal effect of adolescent volunteering behaviour on young adult volunteering and the completion of secondary school. Utilising data from the Australian sample of the International Youth Development Study, frequency of volunteering in Grade 9 (mean age = 15 years) and in young adulthood (mean age = 21 years), and completion of secondary school were measured. Mixed effect logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescent volunteering was associated with an increased likelihood of volunteering in young adulthood (Odds Ratio [OR] 1.29; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.20 - 1.39; N = 2,648) and of Grade 12 completion (OR 1.14; CI 1.03 - 1.28; N = 2,648), after controlling for family socioeconomic status and adolescent school adjustment. These findings suggest that adolescent volunteering may lead to further involvement in young adult volunteering and have a positive effect on school completion.