Risk behaviors and well-being among Egyptian and Roma adolescents in Albania during the COVID-19 pandemic: Vulnerability and resilience in a positive youth development perspective.

Introduction: Egyptian and Roma communities represent two of the most deprived and stigmatized ethnic minorities in Albania. However, research investigating vulnerability and well-being in youth from these communities is scant. Even less is known among Egyptian and Roma adolescents who dropped-out of school. Within a Positive Youth Development framework, we investigated among Egyptian and Roma adolescents: (1) risk behaviors, well-being, and developmental assets (personal and contextual); (2) associations of developmental assets with risk behaviors and well-being; (3) specificities by ethnicity, gender, and education. Methods: A total of 201 Egyptian and Roma adolescents (Mage = 16.63, SDage = 1.80; 47% girls; 53% school dropouts) completed a series of questionnaires in a community setting in August 2020 (first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic). Results: Binomial, Poisson and linear regression models indicated that Egyptian and Roma adolescents reported similar and high levels of risk behaviors, with boys reporting overall more risk behaviors than girls. Low level of well-being and of personal and contextual assets were reported. Girls reported higher family assets, positive values and social competencies than boys. The situation of adolescents attending school was overall not better than that of youth who had dropped out. Higher positive identity was associated with higher well-being. Discussion: Intervention and prevention efforts are urgently needed to support minority adolescents' development during and in the aftermath of the pandemic. They should address the structural factors which limit the availability of personal and contextual resources in minority youth's lives. Interventions aimed at building safer neighborhoods and providing safe access to schools for minority youth should be a priority and are essential to prevent the widening of inequalities during and after this health emergency.

Hospital School Program: The Right to Education for Long-Term Care Children.

Education and health are two inseparable aspects of a single dynamic which aims to support and increase the physical and mental well-being of children and young people. Children must be guaranteed two rights: the right to study and the right to health. Schools capable of reconciling these two fundamental needs are represented by school in hospital and home schooling. Thanks to this flexible teaching method, it is possible to support the child and his or her family during hospitalization, and to prevent consequences such as school failure and dropout. Hospitalization is always a traumatic event for children, in which white coats are unknown figures, perceived all the more threatening the younger the child: a threat to one's integrity, loss of autonomy, distorted perception of time, loss of confidence, and a sense of abandonment. Therefore, it is important to create a communicative basis that facilitates the child's adaptation to the new hospital environment and establishes continuity during this period of time. Teachers play a significant role within the context of such difficulties. They need to understand patients' emotions and act as a bridge between the small inpatient room of the child and the outside world. In this article we examined: (1) the School in Hospital and the reasons why it is a valid resource for the psychophysical rehabilitation of the student in a hospital; (2) the role of the teacher in hospital and the difficult context in which the teacher has to work; and (3) how the school in hospital was challenged by the SARS-CoV2 pandemic.

Educational attainment by children with parental alcohol problems in Denmark and Finland.

Background: Adverse childhood experiences have negative outcomes for children, yet previous research suggests the independent effect of parental alcohol problems is inconsistent. Objectives: Our aim was (1) to compare educational attainment among Danish and Finnish youth with parental alcohol problems and (2) to study the associations between parental alcohol problems and children's educational attainment in these two Nordic welfare states. Data and methods: Administrative longitudinal data on children born in 1991 in Finland (n = 64,696) and Denmark (n = 64,138) and their biological parents. The children were followed until their 21st birthdays. We applied a mediation analysis to investigate how the association between parental alcohol problems and children's educational attainment is mediated by four indicators for poor socioeconomic family background (low parental education, long-term economic distress, psychiatric disorders, and living in a non-intact family). Results: At age 20 years, Finnish children were more likely to complete their education than their Danish peers. Young adults with parental alcohol problems faced early school leaving more frequently in both countries compared with their peers, but the relative risk was higher in Finland. In both countries, long-term economic distress mediated the highest proportion of the effect of alcohol problems (39% in Denmark and 34% in Finland). Low parental education and psychiatric disorders mediated part of the effect, but not to the same degree as economic distress. Conclusions: Ensuring education for children with parental alcohol problems is a key to improving their long-term outcomes in different life domains. Consequently, healthcare, social work and education sectors should prioritise advancing education among these children in order to prevent their exclusion from education and labour markets, and they should cooperate closely in doing so.

Motivos de evasão na pós-graduação no Brasil: um instrumento de medida / Drop-out reasons of graduation in Brazil: a measurement tool

A quantidade de pessoas que iniciam e que concluem as pós-graduações é discrepante, mesmo considerando-se a duração do curso. O objetivo deste trabalho foi adaptar a Escala de Motivos de Evasão do Ensino Superior (M-ES) para a Pós-Graduação. Foram realizados dois estudos para tal finalidade. No primeiro, os itens da M-ES foram avaliados por juízes que indicaram a necessidade de criação de novos itens. No segundo, participaram 639 pessoas entre 21 e 62 anos, a maioria da pós-graduação (75%). Dos modelos testados, a versão de 7 fatores, denominados motivos interpessoais, relacionados à carreira, falta de suporte, desempenho acadêmico, produção científica, reconhecimento acadêmico e institucionais, foi a que apresentou melhor ajuste. Os valores de alfa dos fatores variaram de 0,61 a 0,97. Sabendo da importância da ciência para o desenvolvimento de qualquer nação, fez-se necessário o desenvolvimento deste estudo, a fim de garantir que os pesquisadores tenham condições adequadas para a conclusão dos cursos e para contribuição com a ciência e sociedade de uma forma geral.

The number of people starting and completing graduation is discrepant, even considering course duration. The aim was to adapt the Escala de Motivos de Evasão do Ensino Superior (M-ES) (Scale of drop-out reasons in higher education) to the graduation context. Two studies were carried out; in the first, the M-ES items were evaluated by judges, and new ones were constructed according to the new setting. In the second study, 639 people participated, aged between 21 and 62 years, most attending a graduation course (75%). The 7-factor version fitted better, being composed of interpersonal motives, related to career, lack of support, academic performance, scientific production, academic recognition and institutional reasons. Alpha values ranged from 0.61 to 0.97. Science is fundamental to the development of any nation and it is necessary to ensure that those involved in research might have appropriate conditions to conclude their courses in order to contribute to the desired development.

Better Secondary Schooling Outcomes for Adolescents in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Projections of Cost-Effective Approaches.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article was to identify effective interventions to reduce secondary school dropout rates, increase the quality of learning in secondary schools in developing countries, and estimate the cost and educational impact of a sustained program to implement a selection of these interventions. METHODS: Dropout risk is analyzed by multivariable regression using micro-datasets for 44 developing countries for which Demographic and Health Surveys are available. The analysis of interventions accesses recent meta-analyses of educational interventions in developing countries. We incorporate these results into a model of progression in secondary school-by grade, age, and gender, augmented by learning measures and by a facility to allow interventions to reduce dropout rates and improve learning-to estimate the impact and cost of a package of interventions out to 2030. RESULTS: Poverty, female gender, and rural location are key risk factors for secondary school dropout. In terms of interventions, school proximity for rural students is critical. Better teaching both reduces dropout and improves learning, whereas instruction in the mother tongue improves also improves learning. Systematic implementation of nine interventions in the 44 countries,1 costing US$10.5 per capita per annum, would increase secondary completion rates by about 25% and more than double the index of learning achieved by 2030, with the effects being more pronounced in low-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Powerful interventions are available to change the trajectory of schooling in developing countries but the costs are substantial, and a coordinated funding effort will be required.

Prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among 13-14 year old adolescent girls in North Karnataka, South India: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Mental health disorders among adolescents have emerged as a major public health issue in many low and middle-income countries, including India. There is a paucity of research on the determinants of psychological distress, particularly among the poorest girls in the poorest communities. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates of different indicators of psychological distress among 13-14 year old low caste girls in rural, south India. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of 1191 low caste girls in two districts in north Karnataka, conducted as part of a cluster randomised-control trial. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis assessed correlates of different indicators of psychological distress. RESULTS: More than one third of girls (35.1%) reported having no hope for the future. 6.9% reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless in the past 2 weeks. 2.1% reported thinking they would be better off dead or of hurting themselves in some way in the past 2 weeks. 1.6% reported sexual abuse, 8.0% rrecent eve teasing and 6.3% having no parental emotional support. Suicidal ideation was independently associated with sexual abuse (AOR 11.9 (3.0-47.0)) and a lack of parental emotional support (AOR 0.2 (0.1-0.5)). Feeling down, depressed or hopeless was independently associated with recent eve-teasing (AOR 2.9 (1.6-5.4)), a harassing or abusive school environment (AOR 3.9 (1.8-8.2)), being frequently absent (AOR 2.8 (1.5-5.5)) or having dropped out of school (AOR 2.1 (1.0-4.3)), and living in Vijayapura district (AOR 2.5 (1.6-4.1)). Having no hope for the future was independently associated with a range of factors, including recent "eve-teasing" (AOR 1.5 (1.0-2.4)), being engaged (AOR 2.9 (0.9-9.7)), not participating in groups (AOR 0.5 (0.4-0.6)) and a lack of emotional support (AOR 0.6 (0.4-0.7)). CONCLUSIONS: Rather than being a time of optimism, a third of low caste girls in rural north, Karnataka have limited hope for the future, with some contemplating suicide. As well as having important development benefits, interventions that address the upstream structural and gender-norms based determinants of poor mental health, and provide adolescent services for girls who require treatment and support, should have important benefits for girls' psychological wellbeing. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.GovNCT01996241 . November 27, 2013.

Cost-benefit and extended cost-effectiveness analysis of a comprehensive adolescent pregnancy prevention program in Zambia: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Early marriages, pregnancies and births are the major cause of school drop-out among adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Birth complications are also one of the leading causes of death among adolescent girls. This paper outlines a protocol for a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and an extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) of a comprehensive adolescent pregnancy prevention program in Zambia. It aims to estimate the expected costs, monetary and non-monetary benefits associated with health-related and non-health outcomes, as well as their distribution across populations with different standards of living. METHODS: The study will be conducted alongside a cluster-randomized controlled trial, which is testing the hypothesis that economic support with or without community dialogue is an effective strategy for reducing adolescent childbearing rates. The CBA will estimate net benefits by comparing total costs with monetary benefits of health-related and non-health outcomes for each intervention package. The ECEA will estimate the costs of the intervention packages per unit health and non-health gain stratified by the standards of living. Cost data include program implementation costs, healthcare costs (i.e. costs associated with adolescent pregnancy and birth complications such as low birth weight, pre-term birth, eclampsia, medical abortion procedures and post-abortion complications) and costs of education and participation in community and youth club meetings. Monetary benefits are returns to education and averted healthcare costs. For the ECEA, health gains include reduced rate of adolescent childbirths and non-health gains include averted out-of-pocket expenditure and financial risk protection. The economic evaluations will be conducted from program and societal perspectives. DISCUSSION: While the planned intervention is both comprehensive and expensive, it has the potential to produce substantial short-term and long-term health and non-health benefits. These benefits should be considered seriously when evaluating whether such a program can justify the required investments in a setting with scarce resources. The economic evaluations outlined in this paper will generate valuable information that can be used to guide large-scale implementation of programs to address the problem of the high prevalence of adolescent childbirth and school drop-outs in similar settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02709967. Registered on 2 March 2016. ISRCTN, ISRCTN12727868. Registered on 4 March 2016.

Infodemiological data of high-school drop-out related web searches in Canada correlating with real-world statistical data in the period 2004-2012.

The present data article describes high-school drop-out related web activities in Canada, from 2004 to 2012, obtained mining Google Trends (GT), using high-school drop-out as key-word. The searches volumes were processed, correlated and cross-correlated with statistical data obtained at national and province level and broken down for gender. Further, an autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) model was used to model the GT-generated data. From a qualitative point of view, GT-generated relative search volumes (RSVs) reflect the decrease in drop-out rate. The peak in the Internet-related activities occurs in 2004 (56.35%, normalized value), and gradually declines to 40.59% (normalized value) in 2007. After, it remains substantially stable until 2012 (40.32%, normalized value). From a quantitative standpoint, the correlations between Canadian high-school drop-out rate and GT-generated RSVs in the study period (2004-2012) were statistically significant both using the drop-out rate for academic year and the 3-years moving average. Examining the data broken down by gender, the correlations were higher and statistically significant in males than in females. GT-based data for drop-out resulted best modeled by an ARMA(1,0) model. Considering the cross correlation of Canadian regions, all of them resulted statistically significant at lag 0, apart from for New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Prince Edward island. A number or cross-correlations resulted statistically significant also at lag -1 (namely, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan).

Is the relationship between early-onset cannabis use and educational attainment causal or due to common liability?

BACKGROUND: Several studies have shown that early cannabis use is correlated with poor educational performance including high school drop-out. The predominant explanation for this relationship is that cannabis use causes disengagement from education. Another explanation is that the association between early cannabis use and educational attainment is not causal, but the result of overlapping risk factors that increase the likelihood of both early cannabis use and disengagement from education. These confounding factors could be of genetic and/or environmental origin. METHODS: Here we use data from a large community-based sample of adult twins (N=3337) who completed a comprehensive semi-structured telephone interview. We first apply the classical twin-design to determine whether genetic and/or environmental influences underlie the relationship between early-onset cannabis use (prior to age 18) and early school leaving. Next, with a co-twin control design we investigate whether the relationship between the two variables is more likely due to direct causality or overlapping risk factors. RESULTS: We find a significant phenotypic correlation between early-onset cannabis use and early school leaving (r=0.26), which could be explained by familial influences (of genetic and/or shared environmental origin). The pattern of odds ratios found in the co-twin control design is not consistent with direct causation, but rather suggests that the association is due to shared environmental factors influencing both variables. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the relationship between early-onset cannabis use and school leaving is due to shared environmental risk factors influencing both the risk of early-onset cannabis use and early school leaving.

Distinct Stress and Resource Profiles Among At-Risk Adolescents: Implications for Violence and Other Problem Behaviors.

This study tests for the presence of subgroups among youth at-risk for school drop-out and whether those groups differ on levels of violence and related problem behaviors. Latent profile analysis was employed with a diverse adolescent sample (N = 849) to identify and describe subgroups based on assessment of stress and coping resources, resulting in four distinct groups: Low Risk, Unprotected, Risk Only, and High Risk. Tests across these groups demonstrated significant heterogeneity in violent behaviors, substance use, and school disengagement. The value of stress and protective resource assessment and tailoring interventions to meet the differing needs of vulnerable youth is discussed.

Função escolar x evasão: a falência da educação para o trabalho / School Function and pupils' drop-out: The failure of education for work

O artigo apresenta a discussão de uma pesquisa realizada numa escola da rede pública de Fortaleza-CE, como parte de uma disciplina de Psicologia Escolar. A pesquisa investigou as relações entre a função da escola e evasão escolar, pelo ponto de vista de educadores e alunos. Foi utilizado o referencial teórico foucaultiano para a análise dos dados. Como resultados, podemos apontar que há um desencontro entre a função que a escola deveria assumir na ótica dos alunos e a função que os educadores a fazem assumir ao se comprometerem com determinadas obrigações institucionais, resultando disso a massiva evasão encontrada no estabelecimento em questão. Compreendemos que o fato de a escola pública não assegurar uma vaga no mercado de trabalho especializado para seus alunos, via vestibular ou ensino técnico, contrapõe-se à função escolar de educação para o trabalho. Estando enfraquecida nessa função, a escola não consegue manter seus alunos, mesmo apelando para os mais diversos mecanismos de controle disciplinares.

The article discusses the results of a research done in a public school in Fortaleza (Brazil) as part of a School Psychology course. The research investigated the relationship between the function of school and pupils' drop-out based upon the opinions of the pupils and teachers. It was used a Foucauldian theoretical reference in order to analyze the collected data. It could be found that there is a difference between the school function perceived by the pupils and the function that teachers try to develop through institutional rules, resulting on the massive student drop-out reported in the researched school. When public schools fail to assure a better place for its pupils in the job market, through university access or technical formation, the idea of school as 'education for work' becomes contradictory. When this function is undermined, the school cannot avoid student drop-out despite the use of different disciplinary control mechanisms.