The Demography of School Disengagement

George Farkas, Pennsylvania State University
Denise Wallin, Pennsylvania State University

We use the 1997 wave of the National Survey of American Families to study the social patterning of school disengagement among children in grades 1-7. This provides an early view of the patterns of school dropout and later socioeconomic success to be expected from very recent birth cohorts. Net of other variables, Hispanics are less engaged in school than are African-Americans, and African-Americans are less engaged in school than are Whites. Also net of other variables, boys are less engaged in school than girls. School disengagement for Whites increases at higher grade levels, but this does not occur for African-Americans and Hispanics. Thus, the relatively high school disengagement rates for African-Americans and Hispanics are present in the earliest grade levels. Higher parental education increases school engagement among all groups. With parental education controlled, family structure and family poverty have relatively weak effects on school engagement.