Healthy Skepticism Library item: 6374

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Hemphill SA, Toumbourou JW, Herrenkohl TI, McMorris BJ, Catalano RF.
The effect of school suspensions and arrests on subsequent adolescent antisocial behavior in Australia and the United States
J Adolesc Health. 2006 Nov 1; 39:(5):736-44

Abstract:

PURPOSE: To examine the effect of school suspensions and arrests (i.e.,
being taken into police custody) on subsequent adolescent antisocial
behavior such as violence and crime, after controlling for established risk
and protective factors in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United
States (U.S.). METHODS: This article reports on analyses of two points of
data collected 1 year apart within a cross-national longitudinal study of
the development of antisocial behavior, substance use, and related behaviors
in approximately 4000 students aged 12 to 16 years in Victoria, Australia
and Washington State, U.S. Students completed a modified version of the
Communities That Care self-report survey of behavior, as well as risk and
protective factors across five domains (individual, family, peer, school,
and community). Multivariate logistic regression analyses investigate the
effect of school suspensions and arrests on subsequent antisocial behavior,
holding constant individual, family, peer, school, and community level
influences such as being female, student belief in the moral order,
emotional control, and attachment to mother. RESULTS: At the first
assessment, school suspensions and arrests were more commonly reported in
Washington, and school suspensions significantly increased the likelihood of
antisocial behavior 12 months later, after holding constant established risk
and protective factors (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.5, 95% confidence
interval [CI] 1.1-2.1, p < .05). Predictors of antisocial behavior spanned
risk and protective factors across five individual and ecological areas of
risk. Risk factors in this study were pre-existing antisocial behavior (OR
3.6, CI 2.7-4.7, p < .001), association with antisocial peers (OR 1.8, CI
1.4-2.4, p < .001), academic failure (OR 1.3, CI 1.1-1.5, p < .01), and
perceived availability of drugs in the community (OR 1.3, CI 1.1-1.5, p <
.001). Protective factors included being female (OR 0.7, CI 0.5-0.9, p <
.01), student belief in the moral order (OR 0.8, CI 0.6-1.0, p < .05),
student emotional control (OR 0.7, CI 0.6-0.8, p < .001), and attachment to
mother (OR 0.8, CI 0.7-1.0, p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: School suspensions may
increase the likelihood of future behavior. Further research is required to
both replicate this finding and establish the mechanisms by which school
suspensions exert their effects.