Examining the role of civic attitudes in the link between family wealth and school dropout among tertiary vocational students

Catrin Finkenauer; Maartje Boer; Jenna Spitzer; Dominic Weinberg; Kirsten Visser; Merel Jonker; Gonneke W J M Stevens

doi:10.1038/s41539-023-00189-4

Examining the role of civic attitudes in the link between family wealth and school dropout among tertiary vocational students

NPJ Sci Learn. 2023 Sep 15;8(1):38. doi: 10.1038/s41539-023-00189-4.

Authors

Catrin Finkenauer¹, Maartje Boer², Jenna Spitzer³, Dominic Weinberg⁴, Kirsten Visser⁵, Merel Jonker⁶, Gonneke W J M Stevens²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands. c.finkenauer@uu.nl.
² Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁴ Clinical Child and Family Studies, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁶ Department of Law, Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between family wealth and school dropout among vocational education students (n = 1,231; mean age=17.81). It investigated whether (1) family affluence and adolescents' own perceptions and experiences of their family wealth (i.e., perceived family wealth, financial scarcity) predict dropout, (2) adolescents' civic attitudes (i.e., system justification, institutional trust) explain the association between family wealth and school dropout, and (3) trust in teachers buffers against the risk of dropout among students with lower civic attitudes. Multivariate models revealed that financial scarcity predicted dropout. Financial scarcity showed an indirect only effect on dropout through lower institutional trust, but not through system justification. Trust in teachers was neither associated with dropout, nor a moderator. Controlling for mental health problems did not affect these results. This study helps explain how students' experienced and perceived family wealth can affect their educational attainment, by reducing their trust in social institutions.