HKIER

Abstract

School dropout has become a serious problem in many places around the world. However, before students actually dropout from school, they normally exhibit some symptoms of disengagement from the social life and emotional involvement of school. Thus, hidden school disengagement or avoiding school psychologically may be the first stage of school dropout. This article examines the phenomenon of hidden school disengagement among students aged 13–16 in Hong Kong. A total of 5,246 students in Hong Kong participated in a Youth Health Behaviors Survey conducted in 2010. Based on the Index of Hidden Disengagement, 1,101 students were identified as having multiple symptoms of disengagement. Further analysis suggested that students who were identified as hidden disengaged students had a significantly higher ratio of being involved in health-related risk behaviors as well as suffered from psychosomatic symptoms. This paper provides some explanations for these results, and research and practice implications are discussed.

Keywords: school disengagement; dropout; risk behaviors

摘要

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