Stay in or drop out: the pathways to school dropout from a public health perspective

Level of education is closely linked to health. Poor health can lead to early school leaving, and leaving school early has a negative effect on health. However, early school leaving is usually only seen as an educational problem and interventions only occur when leaving appears imminent or when the individual concerned has already dropped out. This dissertation examined which factors from birth play a role in later school leaving. Early school leavers are more often boys with a non-Western background and a lower socio-economic status. They are also more likely to come from single-parent families. At a young age, factors are already present that have a relationship with later early school leaving. These include an unsatisfactory hearing test (0-4 years), learning disabilities (4-8 years), impulsive or disobedient behaviour (8-12 years) and absenteeism (related to illness or not; 12-16 years). To prevent pupils from dropping out of school, personalised interventions can be developed based on the findings described in this PhD dissertation.