Assessment of neuropsychological function of attention in drop-out students returning for diploma completion

The increasing high school drop-out rate has been a silent epidemic for a number of years. Yet, there is a significant lack of data to help understand why. Some have suggested that possible pre-existing attentional deficits may be a significant factor in the etiology of the drop-out epidemic (Barriga, Doran, Newell, Morrison, Barbetti, & Robbins, 2002). However, there are limited data to support such a hypothesis. The present study examined the attentional performance of 70 students (43 males and 27 females; mean age = 18) who dropped out of their traditional school settings, but later returned for diploma completion. Participants were administered eight neuropsychological measures of attention (Stroop Word, Color, & Color-Word; Trails Form A, B, & L; and the Digit Span and Digit Symbol-Coding subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -- III) to determine whether or not specific deficits were present. The performances on all attentional measures were average, suggesting intact attentional functioning in this population. The present findings were consistent with that of Han, Anderson, Yumoto, & Colon (2004), which revealed average executive functioning performances in a similar sample. Also similar to Han et al. (2004), the current participants' performances were somewhat better (faster) on the speeded task (Trails A), and somewhat worse (slower) on the more complex task (Trails B), relative to national norms. The data also illustrated that the most commonly identified reason for dropping out was due to poor grades (14%). This may be due to various psychosocial stressors as opposed to attentional deficits, as the second most reported reason for dropping out was due to family problems (13%). Although Life-style/hanging out with the wrong crowd (10%) was similarly endorsed, reported issues of gang-related reasons (6%) and incarceration (3%) were comparatively lower.