School drop out and social drop out among teenagers with behavioral problems: Is there a link ?
Québec, as several western societies, is concerned by school drop out rate of its teenagers. By now, we know well enough the risk factors of drop out, which affect the school path, the present school climate, the family difficulties, or the personal characteristics of the young people and their parents. We also recognize that dropping out often heralds the beginning of a slow process of social marginalization. More recently, researchers are interested in the broader concept of young people's social breakdown, defined as a process of disaffiliation which gets worse with the accumulation of breaches, not only in relation with the school but also with other institutions and the societal values in place. But few studies documented the possible link between school drop out and broader social breakdown. This link is possible especially with young people showing problem behavior that often already reflect a certain type of social breakdown. This article presents a current study, both exploratory, qualitative and prospective, with 30 young people living in Montreal and attending a special school because of their behavioral problems. This study aims to better understand the paths that can lead some of these young people towards a social breakdown, while the others become well integrated socially. Moreover, it aims to define the particular sense of the school drop out with those who experience it and the place it could take in a broader process of social breakdown.