Pathway Out of School, Social Bonds, and Criminal Involvement Across Emerging Adulthood

Dropping out of high school has long been associated with increased crime, yet the causal nature of this link is questionable. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to test whether dropout is causally related to crime across emerging adulthood. We examine how the association between dropout and crime varies by whether a student was primarily “pushed” or “pulled” out of school and whether continued disengagement with conventional institutions helps to explain the relationship between dropout and subsequent criminal involvement. We find those who are pushed out of school drive the association between dropout and crime and find suggestive evidence that this is because they are more likely than their pulled-out peers to be disconnected from other conventional institutions across emerging adulthood.