School engagement trajectories and their differential predictive relations to dropout

被引:262
作者
Janosz, Michel [1 ]
Archambault, Isabelle [1 ]
Morizot, Julien [1 ]
Pagani, Linda S. [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Montreal, Ecole Psychoeduc, Montreal, PQ H3C 3J7, Canada
关键词
D O I
10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00546.x
中图分类号
D58 [社会生活与社会问题]; C913 [社会生活与社会问题];
学科分类号
摘要
Although most theories draw upon the construct of school engagement in their conceptualization of the dropout process, research addressing its hypothesized prospective relation with dropout remains scarce and does not account for the academic and social heterogeneity of students who leave school prematurely. This study explores the reality of different life-course pathways of school engagement and their predictive relations to dropout. Using an accelerated longitudinal design, we used growth mixture modeling to generate seven distinct trajectories of school engagement with 12- to 16-year-old students (N = 13,300). A vast majority of students were classified into three stable trajectories, distinguishing themselves at moderate to very high levels of school engagement. We refer to these as developmentally normative pathways in light of their frequent occurrence and stability. Although regrouping only one-tenth of participants, four other nonnormative (or unexpected pathways) accounted for the vast majority of dropouts. Dropout risk was closely linked with unstable pathways of school engagement. We conclude by debating the delicate investment balance between universal strategies and more selective and differentiated strategies to prevent dropout. We also discuss the need to better understand why, within normative trajectories, some students with high levels of school engagement drop out of school.
引用
收藏
页码:21 / 40
页数:20
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