2016/07/26 by Michael Rocque, Wesley G. Jennings, Alex R. Piquero +2
Health Professions · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Homelessness and Social Issues #Youth Substance Use and School Attendance
paper · doi:10.1177/0011128716660520
openalex publication_date 2016/07/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
School dropout has been extensively studied in the literature as a correlate of negative life outcomes. A precursor to school dropout is truancy, the unexcused or illegitimate student absence from school. Few studies have examined the relationship between truancy and involvement in crime and adjustment more generally over the life-course. This study extends previous work by exploring whether truancy at age 12 to 14 is related to later life outcomes such as crime, aggression, and adjustment using data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. Results indicate that truancy has long-lasting associations with negative life outcomes, especially for non-violent crime and problem drinking. Importantly, these findings hold for certain outcomes controlling for a comprehensive host of environmental and individual childhood risk factors.