Psychosocial risk and protective factors of early school leaving in Luxembourg: an exploratory case-control study

Considering the individual and socio-economic burden of early school leaving (ESL), the subject has gained primary concern among school professionals, researchers and political stakeholders who aim to gather the phenomenon of ESL and take action. In Luxembourg, since 2003, the ministry of education has systematically traced ESL and implemented targeted school-level interventions that certainly contributed to an overall decline of the national dropout rate. Nonetheless the proportion of young people who remain without any specific occupation after their dropout remained static, whereas the proportion of those who had resumed their education and then dropped out again even increased. These alarming observations challenge the efficiency of exclusively school-based measures and stretch the urge for considering a more holistic and preventive approach in reducing ESL. Furthermore, a significant proportion of adolescents develop a first episode of psychiatric disorder during their transition to adulthood, with incidence rates increasing by age.