High School Dropout of Mexican Origin and White Non-Hispanic Youths in United States

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the factors and reasons causing high school dropout of a cohort of Mexican and white non-Hispanic students. The source of data used is the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS 88-92), which is representative at national level. The main findings are: student’s age, labor force participation, school absence, extracurricular activities, socioeconomic strata, parent´s education, family structure, number of siblings and type of school are influencing high school dropout for Mexican origin and White non-Hispanic youths. With respect to reasons for high school dropout, we found they are related with early adulthood. For Mexican origin young people, the first child or pregnancy is the main reason for school dropout, while white non-Hispanic is labor force entry.