Parental binge drinking and offspring's high school non-completion: A prospective HUNT survey and educational registry study

BACKGROUND

Alcohol-use disorders (AUD) in parents are associated with adverse outcomes in offspring. It is less known whether other forms of parental drinking such as binge drinking may also be a risk factor for offspring's outcomes -- specifically, high school non-completion.

METHODS

These questions were examined in a sample of 3101 offspring (M_age = 16.1 , SD = 1.68; 49.5% girls) from 2510 2-parent families who participated in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study in Norway (HUNT3; Young-HUNT3) in 2006-08 and were followed-up through the National Education Database (NUDB) until 2014. Associations between maternal and paternal binge drinking patterns as reported in HUNT during offspring's adolescence and offspring's subsequent high school completion were examined using logistic regression models while accounting for a comprehensive set of socio-demographic, parental, and offspring characteristics as assessed at HUNT baseline. Effect modifications of these putative associations by offspring characteristics were also explored.

FINDINGS

Approximately 1 in 6 offspring (13.6% girls, 21.1% boys) failed to graduate high school within the officially designated time period, while roughly 1 in 5 mothers (20.4%) and 1 in 2 fathers (51.2%) reported any binge drinking. Weekly or more frequent binge drinking in fathers was prospectively associated with more than doubled odds of high school non-completion in offspring; OR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.50-3.31. This effect remained substantively identical after adjustment for all covariates (aOR = 2.20, 95% CI = 1.38-3.50) and uniform across offspring characteristics such as gender, academic orientation and performance, anxiety and depression, typical alcohol consumption, and witnessing parental intoxication as assessed at HUNT baseline.

CONCLUSIONS

Weekly or more frequent binge drinking in fathers negatively affected high school graduation prospects in their offspring.

Gender Differences in Adolescents' Exposure to Stressful Life Events and Differential Links to Impaired School Functioning

Gender differences in exposure and reactivity to specific stressful life events (SLE) contribute to explaining adolescent boys' and girls' differential susceptibility to common adjustment difficulties like depression and behavioral problems. However, it is unclear whether these gender differences are also relevant to understanding another key marker of adolescent maladjustment: high school dropout. A state-of-the-art interview protocol was used to assess recent SLE in a sample of academically vulnerable Canadian adolescents (N = 545, 52% boys). The sample was comprised of three groups in approximately equal proportions: 1) students who had recently dropped out; 2) matched students at risk of dropping out but who persevered nevertheless; and 3) "normative" students with an average level of risk. When SLE of all types were considered together, overall exposure was similar for adolescent boys and girls, and the SLE-dropout association did not vary as a function of gender. However, gender differences emerged for specific events. Boys were especially exposed to SLE related to performance (e.g., school failure, suspension) and conflicts with authority figures (e.g., with teachers or the police), whereas girls were particularly exposed to SLE involving relationship problems with family members, peers, or romantic partners. In terms of specific SLE-dropout associations, one consistent result emerged, showing that performance/authority-related SLE were significantly associated with dropout only among boys. It therefore seems that considering gendered exposure and sensitivity to SLE is important for understanding the emergence of educational difficulties with long-ranging consequences for future health and well-being.

Parenting practices during middle adolescence and high school dropout

INTRODUCTION

Despite inconclusive findings, educational researchers have long considered adequate parenting practices instrumental in preventing high school dropout among adolescents. The present short-term retrospective study focuses on parenting practices during middle adolescence when dropout typically occurs.

METHODS

The culturally diverse, high-risk sample of Canadian adolescents (N = 108; M_age = 16.0 years) from low-income neighborhoods included very recent dropouts and matched still-in-school students. A global score reflecting the quality of parenting practices during the period preceding dropout (or comparable period) was derived from adolescents' answers to a well-established structured interview protocol. Transcripts of interviews were also used to identify the potentially disruptive challenges (e.g., parental incarceration) that families faced.

RESULTS

Results show a robust relationship between current parenting practices and dropout that was not moderated by challenging family circumstances or immigration history. Descriptive findings indicate that extreme and relatively rare cases of parental neglect were associated with a high dropout risk, but that most dropouts lived in families where communication and supervision, although not entirely absent, were minimal.

CONCLUSION

Offering systematic support to parents of middle adolescents could help to prevent dropout in high-risk communities.

Revisiting the Link Between Depression Symptoms and High School Dropout: Timing of Exposure Matters

PURPOSE

Recent reviews concluded that past depression symptoms are not independently associated with high school dropout, a conclusion that could induce schools with high dropout rates and limited resources to consider depression screening, prevention, and treatment as low-priority. Even if past symptoms are not associated with dropout, however, it is possible that recent symptoms are. The goal of this study was to examine this hypothesis.

METHODS

In 12 disadvantaged high schools in Montreal (Canada), all students at least 14 years of age were first screened between 2012 and 2015 (N_screened = 6,773). Students who dropped out of school afterward (according to school records) were then invited for interviews about their mental health in the past year. Also interviewed were matched controls with similar risk profiles but who remained in school, along with average not at-risk schoolmates (N_interviewed = 545). Interviews were conducted by trained graduate students.

RESULTS

Almost one dropout out of four had clinically significant depressive symptoms in the 3 months before leaving school. Adolescents with recent symptoms had an odd of dropping out more than twice as high as their peers without such symptoms (adjusted odds ratio = 2.17; 95% confidence interval = 1.14-4.12). In line with previous findings, adolescents who had recovered from earlier symptoms were not particularly at risk.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that to improve disadvantaged youths' educational outcomes, investments in comprehensive mental health services are needed in schools struggling with high dropout rates, the very places where adolescents with unmet mental health needs tend to concentrate.

The contribution of parental and societal conditional regard to adjustment of high school dropouts

This study examined the contribution of parental conditional regard (PCR) and societal conditional regard (SCR) - divided into positive and negative regard - to high school dropouts' adjustment (i.e., well-being, loneliness, and future orientation) along the different stages of the dropout process. Specifically, the current study focused on dropouts from a traditional community, where dropping out was accompanied by various social repercussions. The study, conducted in Israel among Ultraorthodox Jewish males, included 261 participants, ages 14-21 (M = 17, SD = 1.17), who were at different stages in the dropout process. Structural equation modeling indicated a negative contribution of parental conditional negative regard to adjustment, while societal conditional positive regard made a positive contribution to adjustment. Moreover, dropouts indicated higher parental and societal conditional regard than students at other stages of the dropout process. Findings highlight the importance of SCR and PCR in understanding the adjustment of dropouts in traditional communities.