Replicates a Florida study of high school students' decisions to drop out using data for West Virginia. Confirms earlier findings that the decision to drop out is based on the student's perceptions of the economic opportunities obtained by a high school diploma. (FMW)

Previous explanations of teen pregnancy have often included uncritical use of the notion of adolescents "at risk." More recently, however, attention has shifted to structurally determined contextual factors to explain teen pregnancy. Such factors include economic and educational opportunities and costs, as well as chances for valued…

Building on previous data, researchers used West Virginia school district data to investigate the value of examining structurally determined opportunities and costs to explain high school students' dropping out. The study interpreted dropping out as a rational consequence of students' assessments of the opportunities and costs associated with…

Students' decisions to complete high school or to drop out are interpreted as rational in terms of their perceptions of the relative payoffs and costs of educational attainment. High school completion rates relate positively to comparative post-high school economic and educational opportunities and negatively to the costs of schooling. (AF)

This paper examines pregnancy in early adolescence, among West Virginia females aged 10-14, as it relates to local economic and social contexts. Although research on adolescent pregnancy is substantial, it is generally limited to the experiences of older adolescents and premised on assumptions of methodological individualism--that the correlates…

Analyzes the effects of high school students' economic prospects on high school completion rates for 67 Florida school districts. Concludes that students' decisions to drop out or complete high school may be influenced by their perceptions of the economic advantages that accompany a diploma. (FMW)

In contrast to persistent "culture of poverty" explanations, studies of seemingly irrational risk-taking behaviors among West Virginia adolescents found that early pregnancy and dropping out of school were related to lack of economic opportunity and decline of traditional community cultural patterns without acceptable alternatives.…