To reach this conclusion, researchers from the University of Montreal (UdeM) and the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) met 545 students.
Some had stalled, but some had persevered. The researchers wanted to understand what the risk factors leading to dropping out were, but also what were the supporting factors that kept young people in school.
Guest on the show 15-18, Véronique Dupéré, co-author of the study, underlined that the family environment (socioeconomic level and parental monitoring, for example) and the school experience (learning difficulties, bullying, etc.) are the two main spheres that have an impact on early school leaving.
If several studies, mainly American, have already in the past evaluated the role of relatives in dropping out, the role of the entire entourage, including romantic partners, has never been evaluated nor the period during which the contagion of dropping out
could be felt, underlines this associate professor at the School of psychoeducation of the University of Montreal.
A loving partner who left school to find a job and have her own home. A brother who dropped out without the parents getting too carried away. These are powerful models. And it’s even worse when you have dropout models in two of the groups, like a friend and a sister for example.
Compared to students who stay in school, adolescents who drop out are more at risk of having a friend, romantic partner, or sibling who recently left school without a diploma.
The researchers add that dropping out therefore seems to be socially contagious over a short period, less than a year
.
According to her, this study can be useful to school counselors by allowing them to react quickly in the event of dropout among one of the students of their establishment: Let’s go and see in the network of this dropout to avoid the ripple effect
, she says.
COVID-19 as a worrying plot
The forced confinement caused by the pandemic worries a lot
Mme Dupéré because, according to her, the ripple effect could be even more marked on the return [en classe]
.
Specialized in school dropout, the two main authors of the study, Véronique Dupéré (UdeM) and Éric Dion (UQAM,) were named by the magazine Québec Science among the 10 discoveries of 2017 for their study on discreet dropouts
. In particular, they discovered that 40% of dropouts had experienced a significant stressful event in the three months before leaving school.
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