title: Socioeconomic background and high school completion: Mediation by health and moderation by national context.
abstract: This study uses longitudinal data from the Norwegian Health Study linked with registry data (n = 13262) and the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (n = 3604) to examine (1) whether adolescent health mediates the well-established relationship between socioeconomic background and successful high school completion, and (2) whether this mediated pathway of influence varies by national context. Adolescents from lower educated and lower income families reported poorer health, which negatively impacted their likelihood of graduating from high school. The partial mediational effect of adolescent health was stronger in the U.S. than in Norway. These results suggest that policies aimed at preventing high school dropout need to address adolescent health, in addition to the unequal opportunities derived from socioeconomic disadvantage.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Eshkol Tower, Room 705, Mt. Carmel, 3190501, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: sznitman@research.haifa.ac.il.
authors.forename: Sharon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Sznitman
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social Research, Munthes Gate 31, 0260, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: liza.reisel@samfunnsforskning.no.
authors.forename: Liza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reisel
authors.affiliation: College of Education, University of Oregon, 369 HEDCO, 1655 Alder St., Eugene, OR, 97403, USA. Electronic address: atika@uoregon.edu.
authors.forename: Atika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khurana
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000067697:Adolescent Health; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013332:Student Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States
keywords: Adolescent health; Cross-national comparison; High school completion; Moderated mediation; Socioeconomic inequality