Research on the returns to education is plentiful but focuses mainly on the impacts of changes to compulsory schooling laws on outcomes of young people who stay in school longer because of the reform. Much less is known about specific effects of staying in school longer for extremely disadvantaged youth, independently of whether they remain in school until the compulsory age and whether staying in school is affected by varying compulsory schooling laws.
Using a sample of Australians who display high rates of early school-leaving, we compare the trajectories of respondents who left school at each incremental age between 14 and 17 with respondents who left at 18 years old or more, in terms of homelessness, incarceration, substance use and mental health issues.
Results indicate that leaving school before age 18 increases males’ likelihood of experiencing homelessness, being incarcerated, using cannabis daily and illegal street drugs weekly several years after school-leaving.
In contrast, for females we find no evidence that early school leaving affects their likelihood of experiencing homelessness, being incarcerated, using cannabis daily and illegal street drugs weekly.
The gender gaps in findings may reflect different reasons why males and females quit school (e.g. females may leave if they expect a baby) and different sets of support programs potentially offered to them as a result. Overall, they reinforce other results in the education literature that males’ disadvantage in education is a critical policy issue. Identifying programs that keep disadvantaged young males in school can help them break cycles of multi-dimensional disadvantage.