NCJ Number
223234
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 31 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2008 Pages: 421-431
Date Published
June 2008
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether leisure boredom was a predictor of high school dropout among high school students in Cape Town, South Africa.
Abstract
The study has shown that leisure boredom is a predictor of dropout among older students in the grade eight cohorts that was sampled. The older students for this grade are known to be at higher risk for dropout, and the level of boredom in this higher risk group can be used to identify students who are more likely to dropout during the next 4 years of school. The findings raise the question whether leisure will be predictive of dropout in older students but who are not old for their grade. Additional research is needed to investigate modification effects of age on the predictive performance for high school dropout of the Leisure Boredom Scale (LBS). In South Africa, a major concern in adolescent health and education is school dropout, which is defined as leaving school before completing a given grade in a given school year. This prospective cohort study investigated whether leisure boredom predicted high school dropout. Leisure boredom is the perception that leisure experiences do not satisfy the need for optimal arousal. The original cohort of grade eight students (N = 303) was followed up twice at 2-year intervals. The second followup consisted of 281 students. Tables, figures, references