Exclusion and Marginalisation in Adolescence: The Experience of School Exclusion on Drug Use and Antisocial Behaviour

Abstract

Young people excluded from school are a group at an increased risk of drug use and antisocial behaviour during adolescence and later marginalisation and exclusion from society in adulthood. As part of the Belfast Youth Development Study, a longitudinal study of the onset and development of adolescent drug use, young people who entered post-primary school in 2000 (aged 11/12 years) were surveyed annually on four occasions. This paper reports on findings from this survey in relation to a supplementary group of young people who were surveyed because they had been excluded from school. The findings show higher levels of drug use and antisocial behaviour among school excludees, lower levels of communication with their parents/guardians, higher levels of contact with the criminal justice system and increased likelihood of living in communities characterised with neighbourhood disorganisation. This lifestyle perhaps suggests these young people are leading a life that is already taking them towards the margins of society.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Research and Development Office of the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Health for Northern Ireland. The researchers are grateful to all the schools and young people who participated in the study. Thanks are also extended to Miss Grainne McGoldrick for taking the time to proofread the manuscript.