UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Negative Life Events, Self-Efficacy, and Social Support: Risk and Protective Factors for School Dropout Intentions and Dropout

Samuel, R; Burger, K; (2019) Negative Life Events, Self-Efficacy, and Social Support: Risk and Protective Factors for School Dropout Intentions and Dropout. Journal of Educational Psychology 10.1037/edu0000406. (In press). Green open access

[thumbnail of Burger_Negative Life Events, Self-Efficacy, and Social Support_AAM.pdf]
Preview
Text
Burger_Negative Life Events, Self-Efficacy, and Social Support_AAM.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (376kB) | Preview

Abstract

Prior studies have noted several risk and protective factors for school dropout; however, only a few have examined longer-term vulnerabilities alongside temporary risk and protective factors. Consequently, we focused on the role that both stable and time-varying psychosocial risk and protective factors play in dropout intentions and actual dropout, using a 4-year longitudinal design. We investigated to what extent dropout intentions and dropout can be predicted by an interplay between negative life events, general self-efficacy, and perceived social support. We distinguished between time-averaged levels of self-efficacy and social support, and within-person change in self-efficacy and social support over time. This enabled us to establish whether dropout intentions and dropout were sensitive to fluctuations in perceived self-efficacy and social support over time when controlling for person-specific levels of these psychosocial resources. Calculating multilevel models with data from a prospective cohort study (N = 4,956, 43% male), we found that negative life events were significantly associated with an increase in dropout intentions and the likelihood of school dropout. Furthermore, time-averaged levels of self-efficacy and social support, and a within-person (situational) increase in these characteristics relative to their time-averaged levels, were related to lower levels of dropout intentions but did not prevent dropout. The positive relationship between negative life events and dropout intentions was attenuated for individuals who perceived higher levels of self-efficacy than usual. Our findings suggest future research should further investigate time-averaged and situational psychosocial drivers of school dropout in combination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Type: Article
Title: Negative Life Events, Self-Efficacy, and Social Support: Risk and Protective Factors for School Dropout Intentions and Dropout
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1037/edu0000406
Publisher version: https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/edu0000406
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: negative life events; risk and protective factors; school dropout; self-efficacy; social support
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10083309
Downloads since deposit
315Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item