Mental Health Related to School Dropout in Luxembourg

Anxiety Disorders Clinical Trial

Official title:

Psychosocial Risk- and Protective Factors of Secondary School Dropout in Luxembourg: an Exploratory Case-control Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Enrolling by invitation

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01354236
• Other study ID #: AFR-CESP-20100403
• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Phase: N/A
• First received: May 11, 2011
• Last updated: May 13, 2011
• Start date: January 2011

Study information

• Verified date: May 2011
• Source: Public Research Centre Health, Luxembourg
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Luxembourg: Ministère de la Santé
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

This study aims to investigate psychosocial risk- and protective factors such as psychiatric disorder, socio-economic background and family functioning among school dropouts and to compare the findings with those by a matched control group of regularly enrolled students.

Description:

In Luxembourg, the national authorities had to face school dropout rates of more than 15%. As a result, they introduced accompanying and preventive measures to reduce linguistic and cultural risk factors that may impede educational engagement and vocational decisions. Since 2006, the dropout rate has overall declined. However the proportion of early school leavers who remain without any specific occupation is still alarming.

This study aims to identify psychosocial risk - and protective factors of secondary school dropout in order to deliver solid insight on how to tailor early detection and intervention programs.

In the light of prior findings, the investigators hypothesize that school dropouts have significantly more mental health problems than their peers who go to school. They are also more likely to report a poor socio-economic background, negative school experiences and difficulties in family functioning.

To test those hypotheses, the investigators will have an exploratory case control study.Recruitment of cases will be prospective, from an exhaustive population of dropouts and recruitment of matched controls will be done by random sampling. Data will be collected using self-report questionnaires on mental health, family life and problematic internet use as well as a structured clinical interview to consider psychiatric diagnosis according to the criteria of DSM IV.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Enrollment: 200
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 16 Years to 25 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Enrolled in a public secondary school in Luxembourg

• Cases have to be reported as "school dropouts" in the electronic records of the ministry for education

• Informed consent obtained and signed by the adolescent and his/her legal guardian if the participant hasn't reached full age

• Understand German or French, which are the two languages of testing

• Resident in Luxembourg

Exclusion Criteria:

• Acute hospitalization or arrest

Study Design

Observational Model: Case Control, Time Perspective: Cross-Sectional

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Anxiety Disorders
• Disease
• Eating Disorders
• Impulse Control Disorders
• Mental Disorders
• Mood Disorders
• Personality Disorders
• Psychotic Disorders
• Substance-related Disorders

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Luxembourg	Public Research Centre Health	Luxembourg	Strassen

Sponsors (5)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Public Research Centre Health, Luxembourg	Fonds National de la Recherche, Hôpital du Kirchberg, Ministère de l'Education nationale et de la Formation professionnelle, Université de Liège

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Luxembourg, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Prevalence and type of psychiatric disorders	Odds ratios of psychiatric disorders between cases and controls	1.5 years	No
Secondary	Family variables (task fulfillment,role performance, communication, affective expression, connectedness, control behaviour, values and standards)	Odds ratios of family variables as predictors of interest and school dropout. As associations between the primary outcome measure and school dropout may vary with family variables, interactions between family variables and classes of mental disorders will be analyzed.	1.5 years	No
Secondary	Socio-economic background (low, medium, high)	Odds ratios of socio-economic background as predictor of interest and school dropout. As associations between psychiatric disorders and school dropout may vary with socio-economic background, interactions between socio-economic background and classes of mental disorders will be analyzed.	1.5 years	No

External Links

•   Description of the organization where the protocol is being conducted