title: Are Barbie and Ken too cool for school? A case-control study on the relation between gender and dropout.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  As school dropout is an important public health problem that needs to be addressed, we set out to examine whether and how, beyond the well-known effects of sex, gender beliefs and self-reported masculinity and femininity are related to school dropout.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study used a case-control design, consisting of 330 dropout cases and 330 controls still attending school. The respondents, aged between 18 and 23 years, living in the south-east of the Netherlands, were sent a self-administered questionnaire. Separate logistic regression analyses for the male and female participants were used to explore the relation between dropout and gender, controlling for sociodemographic determinants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As indicated by significant curvilinearity, young women were less likely to drop out when they occupied an intermediate positions on the gender variables. Odds of dropout were elevated among highly masculine women (odds ratio = 2.1, 95% confidence interval: 1.1-4.1), and, as indicated by significant interactions, also among highly masculine men with strong normative masculine beliefs and in feminine men who simultaneously considered themselves low on masculinity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Beyond sex, gender is important in the explanation of school dropout. To prevent dropout, public health professionals should assess, monitor and intervene on the basis of gender characteristics.
authors: 1 Department of Social Medicine, School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands 2 Youth Health Care division, Regional Public Health Service GGD Brabant-Zuidoost, Eindhoven, The Netherlands mj.theunissen@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
authors: Marie-José
authors: MJ
authors: Theunissen
authors: 1 Department of Social Medicine, School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
authors: Inge
authors: I
authors: de Man
authors: 3 Department of Medical Humanities, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, School of Medical Sciences, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: Petra
authors: P
authors: Verdonk
authors: 1 Department of Social Medicine, School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: Bosma
authors: 1 Department of Social Medicine, School for Public Health and Primary Care (CAPHRI), Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
authors: Frans
authors: F
authors: Feron
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013332:Student Dropouts / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult