Trajectories of substance use: Academic performance and graduation differentials Among African American, hispanic, and white secondary school students

Abstract

In an increasingly competitive, global economy the consequences of dropping out of high school are devastating to individuals, communities and national economies. At an absolute minimum, adults need a high school diploma if they are to have any reasonable opportunities to earn a living wage (Orfield et al. 2004). Every year in the United States, about one million people who should graduate from high school don’t, condemning them to a lifetime of low incomes and limited opportunities. Students who fail to graduate from high school are also less likely to have access to the country’s political and social opportunities (Small 2006). Existing research suggests that there are marked racial/ethnic differences in academic performance and graduation differentials among secondary school students in the US, due in part to the inverse relationships between educational attainment and achievement, as measured by years and level of education and by standardized proficiency tests on one hand, and drug use, on the other hand (Fothergill et al. 2008; Agrawal et al. 2005; Fothergill and Ensminger 2006; Brier 1995; Jeynes 2002).