Abstract
It is commonly assumed that students from disadvantaged backgrounds often drop out of school and that dropping out necessarily leads to low educational attainment and negative labor force outcomes. Using data from the High School and Beyond sophomore cohort from the years 1980 to 1992, this paper assesses the validity of that assumed sequence of educational and labor force outcomes. The analysis is organized around the hypothesis that it is not just dropping out of school but also later actions taken by the students who are at risk that explain their poor early adult outcomes. Comparisons are made between those with many of the specified risk characteristics and those with none of them. For both educational attainment and earnings, the later contingent actions explain more of the difference between high-risk and “no-risk” students than being a high school dropout does. The results show the importance of examining the role of career contingencies and taking multiple life domains into account.
References
Alexander, Karl L., Entwisle, Doris R., and Horsey, Carrie S. (1997). From first grade forward: Early foundations of high school dropout. Sociology of Education 70, 87–107.
Catterall, James S. (1985). On the social costs of dropping out of school. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Clausen, John A. (1985). The sociology of the life course. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Dannefer, Dale (1984). Adult development and social theory: A paradigmatic reappraisal. American Sociological Review, 49, 100–16.
Ekstrom, Ruth B., Goertz, Margaret E., Pollack, Judith M., and Rock, Donald A. (1986). Who drops out of high school and why? Findings from a national study. Teachers College Record, 87, 356–373.
Elder, Glen H., Jr. (1974). Children of the Great Depression: Social change in life experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Elder, Glen H., Jr. (1985). Life course dynamics: Trajectories and transitions, 1968–1980. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Ensminger, Margaret E. and Slusarcick, Anita L. (1992). Paths to high school graduation or dropout: A longitudinal study of a first-grade cohort. Sociology of Education, 65, 95–113.
Furstenberg, Frank F., Jr., Brooks-Gunn, J., and Morgan, S. Philip (1987). Adolescent mothers in later life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hogan, Dennis P. (1980). The transition to adulthood as a career contingency. American Sociological Review, 45, 261–276.
Hogan, Dennis P. and Astone, Nan Marie (1986). The transition to adulthood. Annual Review of Sociology, 12, 109–130.
Lerner, Richard M. and Busch-Rossnagel, Nancy A. (1981). Individuals as producers of their development: A life span perspective. New York: Academic Press.
Marini, Margaret Mooney (1978). The transition to adulthood: Sex differences in educational attainment and age at marriage. American Sociological Review, 43, 483–507.
Marini, Margaret Mooney (1984). The order of events in the transition to adulthood. Sociology of Education, 57, 63–84.
Moore, Kristin A. and Waite, Linda J. (1977). Early childbearing and educational attainment. Family Planning Perspectives, 9, 220–225.
NCES (1995). Educational attainment of 1980 high school sophomores by 1992 (Report 95-304). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
NCES (1997). Technical report and data file users manual for the National Adult Literacy Survey (Report 97.060). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Rumberger, Russell W. (1987). High school dropouts: A review of issues and evidence. Review of Educational Research, 57, 101–121.
Rumberger, Russell W. (1995). Dropping out of middle school: A multilevel analysis of students and schools. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 583–625.
Sampson, Robert J. and Laub, John H. (1992). Crime and deviance in the life course. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 63–84.
Wilson, William Julius (1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kerckhoff, A.C., Bell, L. Early Adult Outcomes of Students at “Risk”. Social Psychology of Education 2, 81–102 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009605618662
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009605618662