Empirical evidence for a specific typology of high school dropouts

Abstract

Most studies of the high school dropout phenomena classify participants into two broad categories: those who finished high school and those who did not. The primary hypothesis of this research is that four distinct, homogeneous, subtypes of high school dropouts exist: a delinquent type, a troubled type, an actively phased-out type. Thus, one of the primary contentions of this research is that the simple classifications system used by most researchers is insufficient. Analysis included cluster analysis to uncover statistically determined groupings based on four factors derived from confirmatory factor analyses. Factors included Psychological Adjustment, General Delinquency, School Performance, and School Bonding. Analyses revealed a five-cluster solution within which two delinquent type dropout clusters were identified, along with a troubled cluster, and an actively phased-out cluster. Thus evidence for three of the four proposed types of high school dropout was revealed. Implications for prevention efforts, intervention efforts, and future research into the dropout phenomena are examined and discussed.