Mental Health Related to School Dropout in Luxembourg

• Conditions: Anxiety Disorders; Mood Disorders; Eating Disorders; Substance-related Disorders; Impulse Control Disorders; Psychotic Disorders; Antisocial Personality Disorder

• Registration Number: NCT01354236
• Lead Sponsor: Public Research Centre Health, Luxembourg

Brief Summary

This study aims to investigate psychosocial risk- and protective factors such as psychiatric disorder, socio-economic background and family functioning among school dropouts and to compare the findings with those by a matched control group of regularly enrolled students.

Detailed Description

In Luxembourg, the national authorities had to face school dropout rates of more than 15%. As a result, they introduced accompanying and preventive measures to reduce linguistic and cultural risk factors that may impede educational engagement and vocational decisions. Since 2006, the dropout rate has overall declined. However the proportion of early school leavers who remain without any specific occupation is still alarming.

This study aims to identify psychosocial risk - and protective factors of secondary school dropout in order to deliver solid insight on how to tailor early detection and intervention programs.

In the light of prior findings, the investigators hypothesize that school dropouts have significantly more mental health problems than their peers who go to school. They are also more likely to report a poor socio-economic background, negative school experiences and difficulties in family functioning.

To test those hypotheses, the investigators will have an exploratory case control study.Recruitment of cases will be prospective, from an exhaustive population of dropouts and recruitment of matched controls will be done by random sampling. Data will be collected using self-report questionnaires on mental health, family life and problematic internet use as well as a structured clinical interview to consider psychiatric diagnosis according to the criteria of DSM IV.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2011-01
• Status Verified: 2011-05
• Study First Submitted: 2011-05-11
• Study First Submitted QC: 2011-05-13
• Last Update Submitted: 2011-05-13
• Study First Posted: 2011-05-16
• Last Update Posted: 2011-05-16

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 200

Inclusion Criteria

• Enrolled in a public secondary school in Luxembourg
• Cases have to be reported as "school dropouts" in the electronic records of the ministry for education
• Informed consent obtained and signed by the adolescent and his/her legal guardian if the participant hasn't reached full age
• Understand German or French, which are the two languages of testing
• Resident in Luxembourg

Exclusion Criteria

• Acute hospitalization or arrest

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Prevalence and type of psychiatric disorders	1.5 years	Odds ratios of psychiatric disorders between cases and controls

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Family variables (task fulfillment,role performance, communication, affective expression, connectedness, control behaviour, values and standards)	1.5 years	Odds ratios of family variables as predictors of interest and school dropout. As associations between the primary outcome measure and school dropout may vary with family variables, interactions between family variables and classes of mental disorders will be analyzed.
Socio-economic background (low, medium, high)	1.5 years	Odds ratios of socio-economic background as predictor of interest and school dropout. As associations between psychiatric disorders and school dropout may vary with socio-economic background, interactions between socio-economic background and classes of mental disorders will be analyzed.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Public Research Centre Health; 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, Strassen, Luxembourg